Eswar Prasad

Professor of International Trade Policy

Eswar Prasad, a senior professor of international trade policy at Cornell University, says the ruling is still unlikely to slow the administration’s broader push to deploy tariffs across economic and geopolitical fronts.

Prasad says:

“This ruling is a sharp rebuke to Trump’s broad assertion of executive powers in imposing tariffs and will significantly constrain the administration’s aggressive use of tariffs without Congressional approval. Still, it is unlikely to deter the administration from pursuing other avenues to impose tariffs. 

“This decision will create procedural delays and make the process of imposing tariffs more complicated, but is unlikely to have a major impact on Trump’s determination to deploy tariffs as a tool to pursue a broad range of economic and geopolitical objectives. 

“This ruling will somewhat weaken the administration’s hands in trade talks with other countries but will not fundamentally alter the negotiating process. The baseline level of US tariffs that will be up for negotiation now becomes ambiguous, even though the administration has already signaled its intention to re-impose similar levels of tariffs using other tools.” 

Christopher Barrett

Professor of Applied Economics and Policy

Chris Barrett, professor of public policy and economics at Cornell University, says the SCOTUS ruling comes as fresh figures show rising trade gaps and lost factory jobs.

Barrett says: 

“The Supreme Court’s decision comes on the heels of yesterday’s announcement of a record US trade deficit in goods, last week’s jobs report showing more than 100,000 US manufacturing jobs lost last year, and ongoing decline in the value of the US dollar. These facts are connected. 

“Trump’s tariffs have backfired, costing Americans jobs and trade and depreciating our currency. By reasserting the importance of rules-based policymaking, rather than executive fiat, the Supreme Court has hopefully helped restore some measure of predictability that can help shore up a fragile job market, international trade, and the softening dollar.”

Kaushik Basu

Professor of Economics and International Studies

Kaushik Basu, professor of economics, says inflation is beyond the control of the party in power and is shaped by other actors.   

Basu says:

"The Supreme Court striking down major tariffs imposed by President Trump is being described as a 'major blow to the president.' In reality, it is a gift the President has received, because these tariffs were set to do big damage to the US economy. Using tariffs to bargain with other countries is a case of bludgeoning one’s own nose to pinch the opponent’s arm. 

"In the long run, these tariffs would have caused a huge setback for the United States for two reasons. Higher tariffs make production in the US more costly, since input prices rise, and this dampens US exports. Secondly, using tariffs as a bargaining instrument means they will be raised and lowered like a wand. This uncertainty would make corporate leaders hesitant to make investments in the US since the protection of tariffs will be too undependable.”