Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Theresa Opeka.
On Wednesday, Gov. Josh Stein joined 18 other Democratic governors in a letter urging Congress to reclaim its authority over tariffs following a 6-3 US Supreme Court ruling that President Donald Trump cannot use federal emergency powers to impose them.
"Too many North Carolina families are already feeling the squeeze of high prices, and the volatility caused by the federal administration's tariffs is further exacerbating their pain," he said in a press release.
"These tariffs are hurting consumers who are now paying higher costs and farmers selling goods overseas. Congress must act to reassert its authority on tariffs to lower costs and expand economic opportunity for North Carolinians."
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority decision in Learning Resources v. Trump and Trump v. VOS Selections, released on Feb. 20. Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor joined him on its key holding. Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas dissented.
The case produced 170 pages of opinions from seven of the nine justices. They offered multiple takes on the president's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to justify tariffs on imported goods.
"Based on two words separated by 16 others in Section 1702(a)(1)(B) of IEEPA- 'regulate' and 'importation' - the President asserts the independent power to impose tariffs on imports from any country, of any product, at any rate, for any amount of time. Those words cannot bear such weight," Roberts wrote for the majority.
"We do not attempt to set forth the metes and bounds of the President's authority to 'regulate ... importation' under IEEPA," Roberts added.
"That 'interpretive question' is 'not at issue' in this case, and any answer would be 'plain dicta.' Our task today is to decide only whether the power to 'regulate ... importation,' as granted to the President in IEEPA, embraces the power to impose tariffs. It does not."
Stein, a Democrat, said in the release that he had previously warned of the impact that tariffs could have on North Carolina's growing industries. Last year, he led a delegation to the Southeast United States (SEUS)/Japan Annual Joint Meeting in Tokyo, Japan. During this meeting, he underscored the difficulties that tariffs were causing for international businesses looking to grow their presence in the United States. Additionally, at an event last year in Winston-Salem, the governor highlighted the negative impact that tariffs and uncertainty were having on Hurricane Helene recovery, warning that higher construction costs could result in fewer houses being built.
Donald Bryson, CEO of the John Locke Foundation, said that the Supreme Court reaffirmed a foundational principle: the power to tax and regulate trade belongs to Congress.
"Tariffs are taxes, and no president may impose sweeping new taxes on the American people through creative interpretations of emergency statutes," he said.
"These tariffs increased costs for families, disrupted supply chains, hurt North Carolina businesses, and triggered retaliation against our farmers and manufacturers," Bryson said.
"By rejecting this misuse of emergency authority, the Court has restored clear constitutional limits and reinforced that major economic policy must come from the legislative branch."
After the ruling, President Trump imposed 10% tariffs based on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. The tariffs could rise to 15%. Section 122 tariffs were designed to replace tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Brian Balfour, senior vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, told Carolina Journal that the Supreme Court's ruling against the president's tariffs doesn't seem to have stopped his ambitions to continue his tariff regime.
"While I'll let the legal scholars dispute the legality of the tariffs, I can say that they have failed to deliver on the main thing we were promised: domestic manufacturing jobs," he said.
"Nationally, manufacturing jobs fell by 71,000 last year while overall jobs increased. The trend in North Carolina was similar, with manufacturing being one of just two job categories to see declines amid a growing overall job market. Many sectors, including agriculture that is so vital to North Carolina's economy, are being pinched by more expensive inputs to their production process courtesy of the tariffs, while seeing the foreign markets for their goods shrinking because of retaliatory tariffs."
North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson cited John Locke Foundation research this month as he touted a new multistate lawsuit challenging federal tariffs.
Jackson signed on to the March 5 suit filed by 22 state attorneys general and two Democratic governors. The state of Oregon serves as the lead plaintiff.
The complaint filed in the US Court of International Trade seeks a declaration that so-called
"Section 122" tariffs are illegal. The states also seek refunds.
The new tariffs could cost North Carolina households $800 to $1,300 this year, according to an estimate from Jackson's office.
The attorney general references
"How Tariffs Threaten North Carolina Agriculture: NC Farmers At Risk," a January Locke report authored by Jeffrey Dorfman, professor of agricultural and resource economics at North Carolina State University.
"Contrary to the purpose and limited delegation of Section 122, President Trump has invoked this statute to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses and for whatever reasons he finds convenient," according to the states' lawsuit.
"As with his unlawful use of IEEPA, the President has once again exercised tariff authority that he does not have - involving a statute that does not authorize the tariffs he has imposed - to upend the constitutional order and bring chaos to the global economy."
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