Advancing American Freedom and the Independent Institute led a coalition of 10 other amici in Burlap and Barrel and Basic Fun v. Trump, another case challenging illegal tariffs from the executive branch. Hot off their recent win in the Supreme Court, Liberty Justice Center, the group that represented the small businesses in V.O.S. Solutions, Inc. v. Trump, brings this case on behalf of two American companies, including a seasonings importer and the toy company that owns the rights to beloved toys like Tonka Trucks, Stretch Armstrong, Care Bears, and Lincoln Logs. These tariffs will take the spice out of our Christmas Vacation.
This time, the President claims authority from Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 which allows the President to impose limited tariffs to address “large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits.” The President’s claims are a Stretch, and the Court’s task should be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. In fact, Section 122 has never been used for tariffs. The “balance-of-payments deficit” is a natural consequence of the fixed exchange rate system, which set the exchange rate for gold at $35 an ounce and was officially abandoned in 1976. A “balance-of-payments” deficit is not the same thing as a trade deficit. Wooden you know, even the log-rolling Congress said there is no Lincoln these two concepts.
Among the three branches, Article I grants Congress and Congress alone the power to tax. Until the courts incorporate the nondelegation or major questions doctrine in a majority opinion, the executive branch’s tariffs will keep on trucking, twisting the arms of American companies and the people who care and bear the costs. We urge the Court to expedite this case to end these unconstitutional tariffs before more American businesses and consumers are harmed.
“Though the Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs, the harmed businesses were rewarded with the bag-over-the-head prize of another fight for their refund. Instead of relief, American businesses have been ushered into the tariff-of-the-month club, the gift that keeps on giving the whole year. The tariffs being collected even now are, again, illegal, and the importers who are paying them are being set up for ongoing hardship when they are inevitably entitled to a refund in the coming months,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “The Court should quickly issue a permanent injunction against the President’s Section 122 tariffs and should deny any subsequent motion to stay that injunction.”