WASHINGTON: A majority of US Supreme Court justices appeared deeply skeptical of the legality behind a swath of Donald Trump&#39;s tariffs as they heard a landmark case Wednesday that could uphold &mdash; or upend &mdash; the president&#39;s economic agenda.&nbsp;Billions of dollars in customs revenue and a key lever in Trump&#39;s trade wars are at stake as the conservative-dominated panel again grappled with the Republicans&#39; attempts to expand presidential powers.&nbsp;The high court&#39;s nine justices are considering Trump&#39;s use of emergency powers to impose &quot;reciprocal&quot; tariffs on nearly every US trade partner, as well as levies targeting Mexico, Canada, and China over their alleged roles in illicit drug flows.&nbsp;In a hearing lasting more than two-and-a-half hours, several conservative justices, along with the three liberals, questioned whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that Trump invoked confers the authority to impose tariffs.&nbsp;&quot;The statute doesn&#39;t use the word tariffs,&quot; said Chief Justice John Roberts, and imposing tariffs is equivalent to taxation, which has always been a &quot;core power of Congress.&quot;&nbsp;The justices sought to clarify whether Congress must provide explicit authorization for policies with significant economic or political consequences.&nbsp;Solicitor General John Sauer, arguing on behalf of the Trump administration, said this did not apply given the president&#39;s inherent, broad range of authorities.&nbsp;&quot;President Trump determined that our exploding trade deficits have brought us to the brink of an economic and national security catastrophe,&quot; Sauer said.&nbsp;Sauer sought to frame the issue as one involving the power to regulate foreign commerce &mdash; including the ability to impose tariffs &mdash;rather than the power to tax.&nbsp;Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal, noted that the power to impose taxes is a &quot;congressional power, not a presidential power.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;You want to say tariffs are not taxes, but that&#39;s exactly what they are,&quot; Sotomayor said.&nbsp;Simply implausibleJustice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, questioned whether Congress could reclaim powers once it delegates them to the presidency, suggesting that &quot;as a practical matter in the real world, it can never get that power back.&quot;&nbsp;Neal Katyal, representing small businesses challenging Trump&#39;s tariffs, charged that it was &quot;simply implausible&quot; that in enacting IEEPA, Congress &quot;handed the president the power to overhaul the entire tariff system and the American economy in the process.&quot;&nbsp;He contended that the word &quot;regulate&quot; has also not been used to impose taxes.&nbsp;But there were questions, too, about refunds if Trump&#39;s tariffs were overturned, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett saying it could be &quot;a mess.&quot;&nbsp;The court&#39;s decision, which could take months to arrive, does not concern sector-specific tariffs Trump separately imposed, including on steel, aluminum, and automobiles.&nbsp;Trump has raised the average effective tariff rate to its highest level since the 1930s and has repeatedly warned of calamity if his duties are overturned.&nbsp;A lower court ruled in May that he had exceeded his authority, with the case ultimately making its way to the Supreme Court.&nbsp;Trump did not attend Wednesday&#39;s hearing, but several top officials did, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.&nbsp;&quot;In recent years, the court has been reluctant to overrule presidential decisions of this magnitude,&quot; ING analysts said.&nbsp;But the outcome is hard to predict, they added, as &quot;upholding Trump&#39;s tariffs would shift the balance of power from Congress to the President.&quot;&nbsp;Josh Lipsky of the Atlantic Council noted that even as justices were skeptical, they appeared concerned about fallout from overruling the tariffs.&nbsp;&quot;How do the refunds work?&quot; Lipsky asked. &quot;What does this mean for the president&#39;s foreign policy ability to negotiate deals?&quot;&nbsp;Although Trump&#39;s tariffs have not sparked widespread inflation, companies say they bear the brunt of higher import costs.&nbsp;Lawyers noted that if the top court finds Trump&#39;s global tariffs illegal, the government can tap other laws to temporarily impose up to 15% duties while pursuing pathways for more lasting levies.&nbsp;Countries that have already struck deals with Trump may therefore prefer not to reopen negotiations.

Americas

Billions of dollars in customs revenue and a key lever in Trump's trade wars are at stake as the conservative-dominated panel again grappled with the Republican's attempts to expand presidential powers.

US Supreme Court appears skeptical of Trump tariff legality

Reuters

Web Desk

FLORIDA: Speaking to the media, US President Donald Trump said on Monday that India will continue to pay &quot;massive&quot; tariffs if they don&#39;t restrict Russian oil purchases.&nbsp; Trump said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him India will stop its Russian oil purchases. &quot;I spoke with Prime Minister Modi of India, and he said he&#39;s not going to be doing the Russian oil thing,&quot; Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, reiterating what he said in the past week. When asked about India&#39;s government saying it was not aware of any conversation between Modi and Trump, Trump replied: &quot;But if they want to say that, then they&#39;ll just continue to pay massive tariffs, and they don&#39;t want to do that.&quot;

Trump warns India will continue to face ‘massive tariffs’ over Russian oil purchases

BEIJING: China said Tuesday it was ready to &quot;fight to the end&quot; in a trade war with the United States after President Donald Trump said he would slap additional 100% tariffs on goods from the country. The move, revealed in a Friday social media post, was in response to Beijing&#39;s announcement last week of sweeping new export controls in the strategic field of rare earths -- currently dominated by China. Trump also announced in the post that Washington would impose export controls &quot;on any and all critical software&quot; from November 1. The latest escalation has rattled markets and called into question a potential upcoming meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea. &lsquo;Dialogue while threatening&rsquo;&nbsp;&quot;On the matter of tariff wars and trade wars, China&#39;s position remains consistent,&quot; an unnamed commerce ministry spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. &quot;If you wish to fight, we shall fight to the end; if you wish to negotiate, our door remains open,&quot; the statement said. &quot;The United States cannot simultaneously seek dialogue while threatening to impose new restrictive measures. This is not the proper way to engage with China.&quot; &lsquo;It will all be fine&rsquo;Trump appeared to walk back his rhetoric in a Sunday social media post that said &quot;it will all be fine&quot;, adding that the United States wants to &quot;help&quot; China. On Monday, as the outlook for trade with the United States darkened, newly released official data for September showed that China&#39;s overseas shipments have remained resilient. Exports jumped 8.3% year-on-year last month, the fastest expansion since March and much faster than forecasts. Largest consumer market&nbsp;Shipments to the United States -- the world&#39;s largest consumer market -- picked up to reach $34.3 billion, the data showed. Chinese goods currently face US tariffs of at least 30% under levies that Trump imposed while accusing Beijing of aiding in the fentanyl trade as well as unfair trade practices. China&#39;s retaliatory tariffs are currently at 10%. The global impact of Trump&#39;s tariff onslaught is in the spotlight this week as a semi-annual gathering of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank takes place in Washington. The White House continues to insist that the long-term effect of tariffs will be positive for the United States, pointing to their relatively muted economic impact so far.

Business

Latest escalation has rattled markets; Chinese goods currently face US tariffs of at least 30% under levies that Trump imposed; China's retaliatory tariffs are currently at 10%.

China says will 'fight to the end' in US trade war

TIRUPPUR: When Donald Trump was elected, Indian garment exporter R.K. Sivasubramaniam thought the new US president would boost business and invested heavily in anticipation of a boom. But less than a year later, everything is &quot;upside down&quot;, he admits with a pained smile. Trump&#39;s 50% tariffs on Indian goods, imposed in August, have upset the country&#39;s $11 billion textile export industry and shaken confidence in the US market. Sivasubramaniam&#39;s Raft Garments factory in southern India, typically frenetic with humming sewing machines, is quieter, and work hours have been cut, hitting employees&#39; pay packets. If his US buyers switch to other suppliers, half of his business could disappear. &lsquo;We cannot give that much&rsquo;Meanwhile, half a million garments sit in towering stacks, ready for shipment but stalled over who will pay the new duties. Buyers are asking for a 16% to 20% discount. &quot;We cannot give that much,&quot; said Sivasubramaniam, whose desk carries crossed US and Indian flags. &quot;It&#39;s a very huge loss for us.&quot; If Raft does not shoulder part of the duties, it would not be paid for garments already produced, leaving it unable to cover its costs. &quot;If it continues for another month ... we cannot give work to our employees,&quot; he warned. Financing the war in Ukraine&nbsp;Trump&#39;s anger at India&#39;s purchases of Russian oil -- which Washington says help finance Moscow&#39;s war in Ukraine -- has left New Delhi facing some of the world&#39;s steepest tariffs. A trade deal that could ease that hinges partly on progress in peace talks. But the fallout is being felt in Tiruppur, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Dubbed India&#39;s &quot;knitwear capital&quot; and &quot;Dollar City&quot; for its significant export earnings, the small industrial town generated $5 billion in garments last fiscal year, two-fifths of which went to the US. A grim picture&nbsp;Its lanes are dotted with thousands of units, including dyeing, embroidery, and sewing workshops. Manufacturers paint a grim picture.&nbsp;&quot;US orders have largely stopped, around 80% of the US business has reduced,&quot; said Ramesh Jebaraj of Trinity Tex. In the same season last year, he produced 100,000 garments. Now he has barely a fifth of that, forcing him to seek buyers in Israel and the United Arab Emirates. &quot;This is the situation across Tiruppur,&quot; he told AFP. &quot;Some of the bigger factories are on the verge of closing some of their units.&quot; &lsquo;Worst possible situation&rsquo;&nbsp;Alexander John of N.C. John Garments, which supplies Walt Disney, called the tariff standoff &quot;the worst possible situation any business can be in.&quot; With his US orders &quot;completely at a standstill,&quot; he has cut shifts and laid off workers. To stay afloat, he is looking to Europe and Britain, but said, &quot;None of these markets can replace the US.&quot; Three million jobs at risk&nbsp;Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has warned that up to three million jobs could be at risk across the state&#39;s textile belt, a grim prospect for a country struggling to provide well-paid work for its youth. Local industry associations say they have so far avoided widespread layoffs by agreeing to steep discounts on US shipments. &quot;In the short term, we&#39;re giving discounts to the customer ranging from 20% to 25%,&quot; said N. Thirukkumaran, general secretary of the Tiruppur Exporters Association. However, he admits that it is not a long-term solution and has pleaded for government support. <h2 style="line-height: 2;">&#39;We are helpless&#39;&nbsp;</h2>Exporters describe the move as a calculated gamble, by selling at a loss to maintain US buyer relationships while awaiting a trade deal. At RRK Cotton&#39;s facility in Palladam, 17 kilometers (10 miles) from Tiruppur, dimly-lit production halls are quieter than usual. Owner R. Rajkumar, a former tailor who built his business over three decades, has closed two factories and furloughed some of his staff. &quot;This is a situation nobody could have anticipated,&quot; he said, adding that he was running three factories fulfilling European orders and shipping some US orders after giving a discount. He fears the next ordering cycle could be disrupted if US buyers shift to rivals such as Vietnam or Bangladesh. All that depends on a trade deal. &lsquo;America has abandoned us&rsquo;Meanwhile, anger and confusion run deep among workers and business owners. &quot;My tailor ... He doesn&#39;t know what is a trade war, or why India is buying oil from Russia, and why it is affecting our lives, our bread,&quot; said Kumar Duraiswamy, CEO of Eastern Global Clothing. &quot;The problem is we are helpless,&quot; he added.&nbsp;N. Karthick Raja, 38, employed at a small embroidery unit now running reduced shifts, fears for his livelihood. &quot;If this job goes away, I don&#39;t know what I will do next,&quot; he said. &quot;America has abandoned us, more or less.&quot;

The tariffs imposed under Trump have devastated exporters in Tiruppur. Orders have dropped sharply, factories face closures, and millions of textile jobs in Tamil Nadu are now at risk.

Articles tagged with "Trump tariffs"

US Supreme Court appears skeptical of Trump tariff legality

Trump warns India will continue to face ‘massive tariffs’ over Russian oil purchases

China says will 'fight to the end' in US trade war

Indian garment exporters reel under US tariffs