U.S. trade chief says administration would promptly replace tariffs if court strikes them down

Jamieson Greer, the United States Trade Representative, said in a Jan. 15 interview with The New York Times that if the Supreme Court strikes down President Trump’s tariffs the administration would begin replacing them almost immediately, saying it would “start the next day” to reestablish tariffs “to respond to the problems the president has identified.” The Supreme Court is weighing the administration’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which underpins most of the tariffs, and could rule in the coming weeks, potentially as soon as Tuesday.

Mr. Greer said he was optimistic the court would rule for the administration and that advisers had given the president “a lot of different options” to achieve his trade goals. The administration has used emergency declarations to raise and lower tariffs for reasons including reducing trade deficits and stopping inflows of illegal drugs.

Mr. Trump’s recent threat to impose tariffs on exports from seven European countries over Greenland angered the European Union; an attorney, Ted Murphy, said he believed the president would likely rely on IEEPA for such tariffs and wrote he was not aware of another trade statute that would cover that situation.

Key Topics

Politics, Jamieson Greer, Ieepa, Supreme Court, Tariffs, Greenland