Senior officials say alternate legal tools can keep Trump’s trade agenda intact even if the Supreme Court limits the president’s emergency powers.
President Donald Trump’s top trade officials say the administration’s far-reaching tariff program will remain intact even if the Supreme Court curtails the president’s use of emergency economic powers, signaling that the White House has already mapped out alternative authorities to preserve its signature trade action.
In a Dec. 5 appearance on Politico’s “The Conversation” podcast, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration has prepared fallback tools for years and made clear that Trump’s tariff architecture will endure regardless of the legal outcome.
“We’ve been thinking about this plan for five years or longer,” Greer said, adding that while the administration expects to win in court, it does not believe that tariffs themselves are at risk.
“Tariffs are going to be a part of the policy landscape going forward,” he stated.
Trump imposed many of this year’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 statute that allows presidents to regulate imports after declaring a national emergency. Several lower courts have ruled that the administration exceeded that authority, prompting companies to sue for refunds and forcing the White House to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The justices heard arguments last month in a case that could narrow the scope of how broadly presidents may use the emergency economic powers law for trade actions.
When asked whether the White House is prepared to keep the tariffs in place even if the Supreme Court limits IEEPA, Greer declined to detail the backup plan, but made clear that one exists. Pressed on whether the administration has alternative authorities ready, he replied: “Of course.”
He also rejected the idea that the legal fight threatens the strategic trajectory of U.S. trade policy.
“First of all, you don’t change 70 years of trade policy overnight,” he said. “And second of all, when some people say, ‘Oh, well, this is chaos. What’s your strategy?’, what they really want to know is, can we go back to how it was before? And that’s not going to happen.”
Greer’s comments reinforce statements made days earlier by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told The New York Times that the administration could “recreate the exact tariff structure” even if IEEPA were curtailed.
By Tom Ozimek
