The Wall Street Journal's editorial board is sounding the alarm, urging the Supreme Court to slam the brakes on President Donald Trump's tariff power grab. The high court is scrutinizing whether Trump's so-called "emergency" tariffs are even legal.
And the timing couldn't be more urgent.
Trump unleashed a tariff blitz against European allies, specifically targeting Denmark in a bold play to pressure the nation into selling or ceding Greenland to the United States. The Journal begged the Supreme Court to step up on Monday, writing, that Trump’s "weekend tariff spree against European allies underscores again why his abuse of his authority needs to be reined in."
" =He cited no legal authority for doing so. He simply said he is imposing the tariffs," the Journal railed.
The Journal contends Trump likely invoked emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but questioned the premise entirely.
"But what emergency? Greenland isn’t under threat of invasion, and Denmark has said the U.S. can have more or less free run of the island for defense purposes," the board noted.
In reality, Trump wants ownership for his legacy, the editorial suggested, and he'll manufacture an emergency claim to get it.
"The only observable emergency is the threat to the NATO alliance that Mr. Trump’s demands and tariffs are creating," the editors wrote.
Trump's tariff authority is dangerously open-ended, the board said. He can declare emergencies unilaterally, pick targets and rates at will, and weaponize tariffs for any political whim. But Congress never granted such sweeping power.
"Like Joe Biden’s abuse of the spending power on student-loan forgiveness without Congressional assent, Mr. Trump’s abuse of the taxing power cries out for a Supreme Court correction," the board concluded.
