In April, President Donald Trump announced stiff tariffs on goods from nearly every country on the planet, saying they were necessary to "deal with" a "national emergency" involving an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to "the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States." According to a Supreme Court brief signed by 45 American economists, Trump's description of that huge, unilateral tax increase was fundamentally mistaken.

That assessment, which reflects what a leading textbook on international trade calls a "virtually complete consensus among economists," should be of more than passing interest to the justices as they weigh the legality of Trump's tariffs. It goes to the heart of the powers Trump is asserting under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act

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