Overview

• Judges on the Federal Circuit last week voiced strong skepticism that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act grants “unbounded authority” for broad import tariffs, echoing the U.S. Court of International Trade’s May ruling that the policy exceeds constitutional delegation.
• The administration has collected nearly $100 billion in revenue since April, including an unprecedented $30 billion in July, from sweeping country-specific and reciprocal tariffs imposed without congressional approval.
• A group of U.S. importers and 12 Democratic-led states have filed lawsuits challenging the emergency tariffs as unlawful and have been assured by the Justice Department that successful claims would lead to refunds processed by Customs and Border Protection.
• Former House Speaker Paul Ryan told CNBC he expects the Supreme Court will likely strike down the use of IEEPA for general tariff setting, forcing the administration to turn to narrower statutes like Sections 232, 201 and 301.
• Economists at the Yale Budget Lab estimate the tariff program could shave about 0.5 percentage points off U.S. GDP over the next two years, and recent data show rising consumer prices and a slowdown in job growth.