ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota attorney general, Keith Ellison, expressed “cautious optimism” that the U.S. Supreme Court will end President Trump’s global trade war. In oral arguments Wednesday, the Court heard the case filed by Ellison and a coalition of others that Trump exceeded his constitutional authority. Said Ellison: “Most of the justices on the Supreme Court expressed serious concern about the President’s claimed power to tariff the entire world, without any grant of that power from Congress.” Ellison called the President’s extraordinary tariffs “unlawful.” Trump tariffs have created financial turmoil. U.S. agricultural export markets have been decimated, critical imports have disappeared from store shelves, and consumer costs have soared. Hyper-inflation looms, say economists. The Supreme Court, alarmed at what’s happening as well as concerned about constitutional issues, took the case on an unusual, expedited basis. Implications are jaw-dropping. If the Court rules against Trump, an estimated $89 billion that customs agents have collected in recent months will need to be reimbursed to damaged parties — a task so awesome it could take years to unscramble while meanwhile upending a major component of the Trump plan to reorder American society through economic restructuring.
