Supreme Court refuses to hear challenge to Trump’s steel tariffs News
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Supreme Court refuses to hear challenge to Trump’s steel tariffs

The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a case challenging President Donald Trump’s tariff requirement for the steel industry.

Trump’s justification for the tariff is national security, which is a legitimate rationale under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The Section 232 exception allows any government entity to investigate the possible effects of an industry in the interest of national security, and provides an explicit exception if the President determines that a reduction or elimination of an “import restriction” would threaten or impair national security.

Trump has been threatening to use Section 232 to place tariffs on imported automobiles and their corresponding parts. In March 2018 Trump imposed the 25 percent steel tariff, along with a 10 percent duty on aluminum imports. The Supreme Court upheld Section 232 in 1976, saying it gives sufficient guidance to the president to act in the interest of national security.

The appeal was made by a steel industry trade group, which argued that Trump’s use of Section 232 gives the president such broad discretion that it violates the Constitution. The Supreme Court made no comment in refusing to hear the case.

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