US Supreme Court decision on trade won’t change much

The U.S. Supreme Court has expressed skepticism that the Trump administration has the authority to impose its “Liberation Day” tariffs during oral arguments. The questioning raised the prospect that the Supreme Court could rule against the Trump administration. But even an adverse ruling for the president is unlikely to change Korea’s calculus regarding the recently concluded trade agreement with the United States. The agreement reached at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, lowers U.S. tariffs on most of Korea’s exports to 15 percent and caps the cash transfer for investments in the United States at $20 billion per year. Korea has strong reasons for sticking to the deal regardless of how the Supreme Court rules. The tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on Korea and other countries were authorized by declaring a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) based on the United States’ persistent trade deficit. In the Trump administration’s estimation, this gave it the ability to unilaWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times