The U.S. Supreme Court is taking up the question of tariffs.

The challengers to President Trump’s tariffs are two family-owned corporations: Learning Resources, Inc., and hand2mind, Inc.

They’re headquartered in Vernon Hills, Ill., have 500 employees in the United States, and sell educational tools for younger and older children. However, they manufacture them abroad, primarily in China.

Now you can begin to see why tariffs targeting China would displease Learning Resources and hand2mind.

It’s tempting to ask why they manufacture their wares abroad, primarily in China. It’s further tempting to infer the reason is cheap labor. This question, however interesting it may be, isn’t relevant to their challenge to the president’s authority to impose tariffs as he did.

Before we get to the parties’ assertions, here’s one preview. The challengers call the tariffs a tax. Thus, they assert that a tariff increase is a tax increase. That appears to be an effort to gain rhetorical advantage.

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Let’s take up the government’s–meaning the Trump administration’s–position first:

“These consolidated cases address President Trump’s … imposition of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (or IEEPA), which the (p)resident, in his exercise of power over the military and foreign affairs, has determined are necessary to rectify America’s country-killing trade deficits and to stem the flood of fentanyl and other lethal drugs across our borders. To the (p)resident, these cases present a stark choice: With tariffs, we are a rich nation; without tariffs, we are a poor nation. The (p)resident has stated that ‘(o)ne year ago, the United States was a dead country, and now, because of the trillions of dollars being paid by countries that have so badly abused us, America is a strong, financially viable, and respected country again.’ ‘Suddenly revoking the (p)resident’s tariff authority under IEEPA,’ he warns, ‘would have catastrophic consequences for our national security, foreign policy, and economy.’ The (p)resident has made clear that ‘(i)f the United States were forced to pay back the trillions of dollars committed to us, America could go from strength to failure the moment such a() decision took effect.'”

The government maintains the president has the power under the IEEPA to impose tariffs: “Congress has long granted the (p)resident broad authority to employ tariffs to address emergencies. IEEPA continues that tradition by expressly authorizing the (p)resident to ‘regulate … importation’ of foreign goods to address declared national emergencies. Since the early days of the (r)epublic, ‘regulating’ trade has always encompassed the imposition of tariffs, and IEEPA’s broader statutory (text) confirms that ‘regulat(ing) importation’ includes the use of ‘tariffs.”

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Learning Resources and hand2mind disagree: “IEEPA does not give the (p)resident such vast unilateral power. Indeed, it does not give the (p)resident any taxing or tariffing power. …

“Against that backdrop, the (g)overnment concedes that the only possible textual basis for tariffs in IEEPA is a reference to the generic power to ‘regulate … importation or exportation.’ …

“Fortunately, the better reading avoids these problems. To ‘regulate … importation or exportation’ contemplates traditional forms of control over the quality and quantity of imports and exports. But it does not permit the (p)resident to levy tariffs. …

“While the (p)resident and members of his cabinet have warned of ‘country-killing’ consequences should (the Supreme) Court conclude IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, the same cabinet members have elsewhere … acknowledged that there exist ‘lots of other authorities that the (p)resident can use’ to impose tariffs–even if, in their view, those tools are ‘not as efficient, not as powerful’ as the … powers claimed under IEEPA.”

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In the previous sentence may lie the reason why the government wants to proceed under IEEPA.

A decision is expected by June.

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Dr. Randy Elf anticipates that the country will eagerly await this opinion.

COPYRIGHT © 2026 BY RANDY ELF