Trump pursues new import taxes to replace the tariffs the Supreme Court
rejected
[April 28, 2026] By
PAUL WISEMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Supreme Court killed his favorite tariffs in
February, President Donald Trump promptly rolled out temporary import
taxes to replace them. But those stopgap levies expire in less than
three months.
Now the administration is scrambling to put more durable tariffs in
place to keep revenue flowing into the U.S. Treasury and to shore up the
president’s protectionist wall around the American economy.
Starting this week, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will
begin hearings in two investigations that are expected to lead to a new
round of U.S. tariffs — taxes paid by importers in the United States and
usually passed on via higher prices to consumers who are already fed up
with the high cost of living.
Trump’s newest tariff push is sure to face more challenges in court but
is likely to prove sturdier than the one the Supreme Court tossed out.
First up is a hearing Tuesday and Wednesday into whether 60 economies —
from Nigeria to Norway and accounting for 99% of U.S. imports — do
enough to prohibit the trade in products created by forced labor.
“For too long, American workers and firms have been forced to compete
against foreign producers who may have an artificial cost advantage
gained from the scourge of forced labor,” U.S. Trade Representative
Jamieson Greer said in March. The administration could punish scofflaws
with new tariffs.
Then, next week, the administration will hold hearings on whether 16
U.S. trading partners — including China, the European Union and Japan —
are overproducing goods, driving down prices and putting U.S.
manufacturers at a disadvantage. The economies being investigated
account for 70% of U.S. imports, according to Erica York of the Tax
Foundation. Again, the probe could result in new tariffs.
Most major economies, including China, the EU and Japan, are on both
lists.
Trump's top trade official insists he won't prejudge the
investigations
The administration has brought the cases under Section 301 of the Trade
Act of 1974, which authorizes tariffs and other sanctions against
countries found to engage in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or
“discriminatory” trade practices.
U.S. Trade Representative Greer, who is overseeing the investigations,
has insisted he won’t prejudge them.
But importers and foreign countries have doubts the process will be
fair. After all, Trump’s Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, did not wait
for the investigations to be completed to proclaim that the U.S.
government will replace its original tariff revenues with new import
taxes, including ones to be imposed under Section 301. The president
himself has said that new tariffs “are going to get us more money.’’
“If you believe the Treasury secretary and the president, then the cake
is already baked,” said Scott Lincicome of the libertarian Cato
Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies. “These investigations will
result in tariffs that approximate what the Supreme Court overruled in
February.’’
On Feb. 20, the high court ruled that Trump had overstepped his
authority by invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers
Act (IEEPA) to impose double-digit tariffs on almost every country on
Earth. Trump had used the act to plaster taxes on imports with eager
abandon. For example, he conjured up a new tariff on Canada (though he
never actually imposed it) because he didn’t like a Canadian television
ad criticizing his trade policies.
He used the threat of IEEPA tariffs to strong-arm top U.S. trading
partners – including the EU, Japan and South Korea – into accepting
lopsided trade agreements. The levies also brought in a lot of revenue
-- $166 billion – before the Supreme Court shut them down, ruling that
IEEPA couldn’t be used to impose tariffs. Now the federal government
must refund money to importers who paid those tariffs.
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Containers are stacked at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo on Aug. 1,
2025. (Takuto Kaneko/Kyodo News via AP)
 Tariffs remain Trump's go-to
Trump had a handy way to quickly recoup some of the lost revenue —
which had been expected to hit $1.6 trillion over the next decade –
at least temporarily. Section of 122, also of Trade Act of 1974,
allows the president to impose global tariffs as high as 15% for up
to 150 days.
The administration wasted no time. Two days after the Supreme Court
decision, it slapped 10% Section 122 tariffs on imports. Trump said
he’d raise the levies to the maximum 15% but hasn’t.
The clock runs out on those tariffs July 24. Congress could extend
them. But lawmakers have little enthusiasm for approving what
amounts to a big tax as November’s midterm elections approach:
American voters are already furious about the high prices, for which
tariffs are at least partly to blame.
Section 301 offers another opportunity to replicate the the
protectionist impact of the IEEPA tariffs. There are no limits on
the size of Section 301 tariffs. They expire after four years but
can be extended.
Perhaps best of all, from the Trump administration’s perspective
after its Supreme Court defeat, Section 301 tariffs withstood legal
challenges when the president used them in his first term to pound
China in a dispute over Beijing’s sharp-elbowed policies to promote
its own tech companies.
Any new 301 tariffs are sure to be challenged again in court. But
judges might not throw them out.
“Even if it is a veiled — or less-than-veiled — attempt to
reinitiate the IEEPA tariffs, he still has the cover of the process
itself,’’ said trade lawyer Joyce Adetutu, a partner at law firm
Vinson & Elkins.
Importer calls investigation a "sham''
Critics have latched onto the speed with which Trump’s latest
investigations are proceeding. Imposing the Section 301 tariffs
against China in the president’s first term took nearly a year of
investigation and public comment. If the latest investigations
produce new tariffs in time to replace the expiring Section 122
levies, the process will have taken less than half that long.
“It’s such a short timeframe,’’ said Kenya Davis, a partner at the
law firm Boies Schiller Flexner who has done pro bono work on human
trafficking and forced labor. “It’s so condensed that it doesn’t
make a lot of sense that they can do it that quickly.’’
Importers bracing for the return of painful tariffs can take some
comfort in knowing that Trump’s Section 301 tariffs likely won’t be
as erratic as his IEEPA levies. He has to follow procedures before
imposing them.
“One of the reasons Trump used IEEPA is because it was just a
complete blank slate’’ — or seemed to be before the Supreme Court
ruling, Cato’s Lincicome said, describing it as “a little tariff
switch in the Oval Office that Trump could flip on and off anytime
he wants; he wakes up in the morning and he doesn’t like a Canadian
television commercial, he flips the switch ... You really can’t do
that with 301.’’
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