Shaheen Statement on SCOTUS Ruling on President Trump’s Abuse of Emergency Powers to Impose Sweeping Tariffs

**Last year, Shaheen led more than 30 U.S. Senators in filing an amicus brief challenging the President’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act**

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a senior member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, released the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court decision finding that President Trump does not have the authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) law. The ruling is in line with the argument Shaheen and more than 30 of her Senate colleagues and 171 House colleagues made in a bipartisan Amicus Brief she filed with the Supreme Court last year.

“Today marks a major step towards providing relief to Americans who have been forced to pay higher prices or lost sales due to the President’s illegal, reckless trade war. I am relieved that the Supreme Court sided with the more than 200 members of Congress I led in filing an Amicus Curiae brief arguing that the tariffs the President has imposed under IEEPA are unlawful. I urge the Administration to act swiftly to pay refunds of these unlawfully collected tariffs, and hope wholesalers and large corporations work to pass those refunds on to families and small businesses.

“Despite promising as a candidate to lower prices, President Trump has done the opposite in office with his chaotic and costly trade war, which has made every aspect of life more expensive for Americans. And throughout the last year, I have also heard from countless Granite State small businesses about the extraordinary challenges they’ve faced as a result of this haphazard, on-and-off-again trade war. That helps explain why our economy has actually lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs since the President started his trade war. I hope the Administration will take this opportunity to listen to the concerns of families and businesses alike and rethink these misguided policies, rather than straining to find new ways to unilaterally raise taxes on the American people.

“Should the Administration be unwilling to listen, I will continue to forcefully push back against these misguided trade policies to protect New Hampshire businesses and families.”

In January of last year, before President Trump took office, Shaheen introduced the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes on Imported Goods Act to shield American businesses and consumers from rising prices imposed by tariffs on imported goods into the United States by clarifying that the President does not have the authority to levy sweeping tariffs under IEEPA—while preserving IEEPA’s authority for sanctions and other tools. Shaheen then led three amicus briefs arguing that the tariffs imposed under IEEPA are unlawful.

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