Supreme Court Hands Down Big Victory to Trump, Even Joe Biden Agreed
In a case that found the Biden administration supporting a position taken by former President Donald Trump, steel tariffs imposed by Trump will remain in effect.
The court on Monday denied to hear the appeal of USP Holdings after lower courts rejected its claim that the Trump administration acted improperly when it enacted the tariffs.
President Joe Biden has left the tariffs largely as Trump imposed it and supported the tariffs in the court case against USP Holdings and other companies that said they import steel and were damaged by the tariffs, according to the Epoch Times.
Supreme Court Leaves Trump’s Steel Import Tariffs Intact 👍 https://t.co/yfk7sNVqhA
— Susan Stapel (@StapelSusan) March 27, 2023
Politico noted that although the tariffs angered allies, American workers were part of the presidential equation in Biden keeping a piece of Trump’s policy intact.
“The Biden administration understands that simply lifting steel tariffs without any solution in place, particularly beyond the dialogue, could well mean layoffs and plant closures in Pennsylvania and in Ohio and other states where obviously the impact would be felt not only economically but politically,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
The tariffs went into effect on March 1, 2018. A 25 percent tariff on imported steel from most countries was imposed, along with a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum.
“When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore — we win big. It’s easy!” Trump tweeted when the tariff was imposed.
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2018
The case largely focused on the administrative machinations of the tariff’s approval.
As noted in their petition to the Supreme Court, USP and the other companies suing tried to claim that former Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross’ report that recommended the tariff was in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, claiming the report was “arbitrary and capricious.”
The Trade Court rejected that argument in 2021, saying the report was not a final agency action.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit differed from the trade Court about the report, but still denied that imposing the tariffs violated the Administrative Procedures Act.
USP Holdings then appealed to the Supreme Court, which turned away the appeal without comment.
U.S. Supreme Court turns away challenge to Trump’s tariffs on steel imports https://t.co/3IFcyaw8uM pic.twitter.com/TwSPsNgwNK
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 27, 2023
“The tariffs have had, I would say, very modest impacts on steel-consuming industries and have had the desired results so far for the domestic [steel] industry,” Paul said, according to Politico.
The Supreme Court last year refused to hear a challenge by steel companies to Trump’s 2018 action to double tariffs on steel from Turkey, according to U.S. News & World Report.
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