Overview

• In a letter to the Federal Circuit, Solicitor General D. John Sauer and AAG Brett Shumate argued that vacating most IEEPA-based tariffs could obligate the U.S. to repay ‘‘trillions of dollars’’ pledged under recent trade agreements.
• The DOJ warned that shifting those liabilities onto federal coffers would strain Social Security and Medicare beyond their payroll-tax funding structure.
• The Federal Circuit has kept the tariffs in place under a stay since May and is expected to issue a decision soon, with a Supreme Court appeal likely if the administration loses.
• Economists from the Cato Institute, American University and other institutions have challenged the DOJ’s economic claims as unsupported, noting that benefit programs are funded separately and that investment pledges are contested.
• At the heart of the case is whether the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act grants the president authority to impose broad, economy-wide import levies—a major questions doctrine issue that appellate judges have flagged.