Trump administration files appeal to Supreme Court to keep tariffs in place

• If the Supreme Court ultimately upholds the lower court ruling, the overwhelming majority of tariffs implemented under Trump would be canceled.

State of play: A federal appeals court on Aug. 29 held that Trump exceeded his authority by enacting widespread tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

• The court, however, allowed the tariffs to remain in place through Oct. 14.
• That decision does not apply to sector tariffs — including those on steel, aluminum and autos — which were implemented under a separate trade authority.

Zoom in: The filings, copies of which were seen by Axios, asks the Supreme Court for a swift ruling, with the government noting that the "stakes of the case could not be higher."

• The government said the lower court decision "eviscerates a critical tool for addressing emergencies through fuzzy reasoning that improperly transforms judges into foreign-policy referees."
• In a statement posted on X, Jeffrey Schwab, a lawyer on the team representing businesses suing the government, said he hoped for a "prompt resolution of this case."

The intrigue: Trump has said the nation would face an economic reckoning if the suite of tariffs were not allowed to continue.

• Few economists outside the White House believe that is the case, though the tariffs were projected to contribute meaningfully to the nation's federal revenues.
• The Congressional Budget Office previously estimated that Trump's tariffs would lower deficits by $4 trillion over the next 10 years.

Go deeper: Companies could be owed billions of dollars if tariff ruling sticks