The White House is exploring how to keep Trump's tariffs if the Supreme Court strikes them down

Source: NBC News

Sept. 7, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT


WASHINGTON — After losing in lower courts, President Donald Trump plans to take his case for the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs to the Supreme Court and the public square. But his aides have also explored alternative methods for imposing import taxes on foreign goods, according to a senior White House official and two people familiar with the internal discussions.

The backup plans have been part of internal discussions for many months because some White House officials anticipated the possibility that courts would intervene to stop Trump's tariffs, challenging the method he used to impose them — which was pushed by senior trade counselor Peter Navarro — according to two people familiar with the dynamics.

Trump has not been able to use tariffs to force better trade terms with as many foreign nations as quickly as he would have liked, and the court battle could further delay those negotiations. But even if the Supreme Court turns Trump down, he’ll be ready to move forward with other tariff options, these people said.

On Wednesday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to quickly review an appeals court ruling that a 1970s national security law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), does not grant the president the power to set tariffs. In a 7-4 decision, the majority of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that while the law, which Trump cited in a series of executive orders setting tariffs, gives the president significant emergency powers, “none of these explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the power to tax.”

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/white-house-exploring-keep-trumps-tariffs-supreme-court-strikes-rcna229175