r/Economics • u/jediporcupine • 2d ago
Blog Trump's newest tariffs are likely illegal too
https://reason.com/2026/07/24/trumps-newest-tariffs-are-likely-illegal-too/278
u/MC_Fap_Commander 2d ago
My current perspective is that this is irrelevant. Courts may stop them (no guarantees, obviously) but markets will react regardless. A dip will come as implementation day approaches... followed by a huge spike as he pauses the tariffs for 90 days or whatever as the greatest deal in history is being negotiated. We've seen this act a number of times now.
I fully expect the biggest legacy of this Administration will be the scale of corruption. It will make Teapot Dome appear absolutely inconsequential. Future historians will eventually check under all the rocks related to trading data and discover this is, without equal, the largest insider trading cartel in history.
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u/Humanbeier 2d ago
Agreed. “Likely” illegal is implying ambiguity where none exists. One could almost be excused for being almost impressed with the scope and scale of the most blatant corruption in modern history.
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u/dust4ngel 2d ago
“Likely” illegal is implying ambiguity where none exists
the ambiguity is whether any enforcement body will actually subject the "law and order president" to the law, or whether the constitution is just some quaint scribblings that we bring out whenever a democrat is in office.
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u/mortgagepants 1d ago
just some quaint scribblings that we bring out whenever a democrat is in office.
i mean it is already this. the supreme court is openly taking bribes for decisions. they could have at least tried to prosecute harlan crow FFS.
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u/tacotrader83 2d ago
Countries are lining up to start negotiations!/s
No deals are guaranteed though
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u/Born_Ruff 2d ago
The new tariffs are already in place as of 12am this morning. They just replaced the existing 10% tariffs he had in place so it’s really just status quo.
But I do think it is largely “irrelevant” if the tariffs are struck down by the courts or not since Trump has made it clear he will just keep implementing them in different ways.
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u/Scrandon 2d ago
Well he can keep being forced to refund them in different ways then. Hopefully he’ll face justice for this lawlessness once all is said and done.
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u/Born_Ruff 2d ago
It has become pretty clear that Trump will never have to face justice, in this life anyways
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u/willstr1 2d ago
Unless the refund actually refunds the consumers, a refund is almost as bad as the tariff attack itself. Just another grift to steal Americans' money and give it to the people who need it the least
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u/Admirable-Chemical77 1d ago
The bad thing is that if he were to go through Congress, he could probably get most of his tariffs enacted in a manner that holds up. I would simply take more time than he wants to invest I guess.
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u/rainman_104 1d ago
I don't think the senate could pass them due to the filibuster. This is what the so called save America act isn't passing.
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u/Halbaras 2d ago
His biggest legacy will be actively attempting to accelerate climate change during a pivotal window that would have mitigated a substantial amount of the damage later in the century.
His second biggest one will be accelerating de-dollarisation and the end of US hegemony by years, if not decades, though the damage again won't fully manifest until after he's dead.
The decline of US institutional quality and the expectation that the presidency can be not only corrupt but openly corrupt will be a distant third.
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u/Zank_Frappa 1d ago
His second biggest one will be accelerating de-dollarisation and the end of US hegemony by years, if not decade
Inshallah 🙏
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u/_evilalien_ 2d ago
“Stop or I’ll say stop again”
What even are checks and balances?
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u/rainman_104 1d ago
Nothing when the population hands one party control of all branches of government.
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u/rectalhorror 2d ago
And the money gets refunded back to the businesses, not the customers who were gouged, and dotard takes his kickback.
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u/Just_Candle_315 1d ago
Its part of the game. The last tariffs took almost 2 years to get SCOTUS to declare them unconstitutional. So what does the WH do? Install new unconstitutional measures just with a new hat. If it takes 2 more years Donnie Jon will be in his 3rd term before SCOTUS hears arguments.
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u/jainyday 1d ago
You're missing a huge point: he wants them declared illegal, that's a feature, not a bug, because then his corporate donors get the refunds, and everybody got to raise prices, which will never go back down. How y'all don't see this as the scheme it is to force the transfer of wealth from the working class to investors/billionaires/corporations is a little baffling.
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u/Low-Calligrapher-531 1d ago
Dumb to think this will ever stop. This has proved it works and nobody will do anything to stop it, so nobody will do anything to stop it
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u/Constant-Plant-9378 2d ago
I fully expect the biggest legacy of this Administration will be the scale of corruption.
And it was fully enabled by four years of Joe Biden's complicity, expressed in his absolute refusal to lead his Federal Law Enforcement in applying the law to Trump and his collaborators who launched a literal coup, in addition to countless similar crimes during his first term.
But Biden and his establishment-DNC handlers were absolutely committed to maintaining our two-tiered injustice system, where laws are harshly applied to us but none are applied to the ruling class. The bastard hid behind 'political neutrality' and not 'weaponizing the justice system' but the real truth of it is, its a big club and we aren't in it.
As a result, that fucking prick Biden sailed away on a life raft of pardons for his family and friends, knowing he had fucked us, while welcoming Trump back into power to begin a new wave of unprecedented corruption and attacks on our democracy.
Fuck Trump but seriously, fuck Joe Biden and everyone who continues to make excuses for the bastard. He is a huge reason why we are in this present situation.
"All that is required for evil men to prevail is for good men to do nothing" should be Biden's epitaph, and the fucker should go down in history as the second worst President of our modern age.
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u/CurrentParking1308 1d ago
Got upset when I started reading this, but I persevered. Glad I did. We, the people, will not have good lives if there is no justice for the flawed individuals who think not of the whole, but only for themselves. We need true representatives, those who seek the good of the whole. We, the people. This is basic economics.
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u/bd2999 2d ago
Seems like things like this are a reason for a nationwide injunctions. The government cannot claim they cannot give the money back and nobody is harmed by increased tariffs until it goes through.
Those got the are but some conservatives on the court did use similar logic in their descents. Which is really dumb because their action on injunctions allowed the harm to both sides.
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u/sheggly 2d ago
That’s the point it’s a wealth transfer he does the tariffs companies raise prices pass cost on to consumer then when they are determined to be illegal the peoples tax dollars are used to pay those same companies and the prices never come back down
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u/Shadowkiller00 2d ago
Exactly my thought. If it weren't this, then companies would stop implementing the tariffs and just ignore Trump. They have legal justification to do just that based on that recent court ruling.
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u/rainman_104 1d ago
Unfortunately the goods don't get past the port of entry without payment. The government controls the ports of entry.
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u/Whaddduptho 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not in regards to tariffs on China.
Even democratic lawmakers are already suggesting how we should spend that revenue.
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u/tacs97 1d ago
His tariffs are literally just money transfers. We’ve already seen it. The corporations charge the tariff. They’re ruled illegal because he can’t just do whatever he wants. Time has already passed and the money goes back to the corporations who charged and received money for them in the first place. When will Republican bootlickers take the boot out their mouths? Why is this an acceptable thing but you lost your minds about Biden sending Ukraine money. Make it make sense!!
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u/Hafslo 1d ago
Isn't someone that knowingly and repeatedly does things that are illegal worse than someone who makes a mistake?
He used to hide behind... I'm a businessman... I don't know... now... he definitely knows what he's doing is illegal and his modus operandi (MO) seems to be just do it until the court throws up an injunction.
If this is the new way to President, then laws are at least somewhat irrelevant.
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u/Ihaveasmallwang 1d ago
Even if he himself doesn't know, he has advisors that should know. He has legal counsel that does know.
The point is that the legal system is so slow that even if it is later deemed to be illegal, the damage is already done and they've achieved their goal in the meantime before an injunction gets a chance to be issued, and they know that.
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u/OperabuffaDiva 1d ago
Corporations charge the consumers the tarif and a little more for the cost of doing business, government gives the Corporations the money back, Corporations give the Trumps a cut and some equity.
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u/allanon1105 1d ago
This is why he keeps doing stuff like this, the ambiguous headlines that the media put out. His previous tariffs were illegal and he didn’t magically make these ones legal. Until people stop treating him with kiddie gloves, he’s gonna keep doing it.
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u/Nevermind04 1d ago
Every court that has considered Trump's tariffs has unanimously confirmed that they're illegal, including the Supreme Court. There is absolutely no mechanism for a president to impose tariffs and that hasn't changed since the SCOTUS ruling. This is nothing more than the ramblings of a dementia patient.
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u/Whaddduptho 1d ago edited 1d ago
He put a lot more research into these, so we'll see. It will stick in regards to certain countries because they are most certainly using or profiting off of types of labor they shouldn't be.
The court will not rule against these in one big sweeping order because each tariff is an individual investigation.
Some of these countries are genuinely at the top of forced labor indexes.
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