Small business owners appeal to Supreme Court over Trump’s tariffs

There were a lot of mixed feelings when Trump first announced his sweeping tariff plan.  

I have always been wary of a tariff war, but I also believed that Trump needed time to put his plan into action and get better trade deals for the nation. And if it meant tightening up for a hot minute, so be it.  

Some small business owners did not see it that way, and now they are trying to get the administration before the Supreme Court to force it to dial back the tariffs.  

My bottom line

I am all for tightening up the bootstraps if it means something will be better for the entire country.  

Like many of you, my bank account has been going backward for the last five years, and it has continued to do so with Trump in office, but the pace has admittedly slowed.  

When Trump started talking about a trade war, my concern was that once prices go up, will we be able to get them back down, or will merchants wait for inflation to catch up rather than bring prices down to reflect current supply charges?  

Now, my business is writing, so the only way these tariffs impact me is when I purchase, so I just cut out all unnecessary purchasing while this is taking place.  

I fully understand the concerns of small business owners who have to buy products and are then faced with the decision of eating the increased cost of inventory or passing it on to the customer. Either way, their profits will be impacted negatively.  

On Tuesday, two small businesses filed a motion with the Supreme Court challenging Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, saying that no president, in nearly 50 years, “has ever invoked it to impose tariffs — let alone the sweeping worldwide tariffs imposed pursuant to the executive orders challenged here.” 

It will be interesting to see how the Court rules or if it even takes the case, as there are other suits working their way through the legal system on this front, one of which just fell against Trump.  

An appellate court recently ruled that Trump’s use of the tariffs is unlawful, so will the Supreme Court take the new case or kick it back down for reconsideration?  

The Court has not yet decided what it will do, but the legal team for the small businesses has asked the court to impose a June 23 deadline for a response from the government.  

I truly understand both sides of this argument, and while some may call the actions of the small business owners selfish, I would say it is more like self-preservation.  

As I said, I am all for sucking it up to create a better situation for the country, but I also don’t want to see small business owners suffer as a result. It is truly a rock-and-a-hard-place situation.