The significance of the case lies in placing global trade in a new state of uncertainty, threatening to cancel the bulk of Trump’s trade agenda. If the Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s decision, the vast majority of tariffs imposed during Trump’s administration will be repealed.

A federal appeals court ruled on August 29 that Trump exceeded his authority when he imposed broad tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. However, the court allowed these tariffs to remain in effect until October 14.

This ruling does not apply to tariffs imposed on specific sectors such as steel, aluminum, and automobiles, as those tariffs were based on a separate trade authority.

Legal briefs indicated that the government requested the Supreme Court to issue a swift ruling, emphasizing that “the stakes in this case could not be higher.”

The administration stated that the lower court’s decision “undermines a vital tool for crisis management through ambiguous logic that unjustifiably turns judges into foreign policy rulers.”

Trump warned that the United States would face an “economic disaster” if the tariffs were not allowed to continue. However, most economists outside the White House disagree, although the tariffs have contributed to boosting federal revenues.

The Congressional Budget Office previously estimated that the tariffs imposed by Trump would reduce the federal deficit by $4 trillion over the next ten years.