The Supreme Court has taken up a blockbuster challenge to Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, and the most visible voices against them aren’t household-name corporations but small U.S. importers that say the duties are choking their businesses.
On November 5, 2025, the justices heard arguments over whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) lets a president impose sweeping tariffs without Congress. Several justices, including conservatives, pressed the administration’s claim that the levies are “regulatory” rather than revenue-raising, testing how far emergency powers can reach into Congress’s traditional taxing authority. By the government’s own figures, nearly $90 billion has been collected from U.S. importers under the contested tariffs. The Court consolidated two cases led by small companies, including an educational toymaker and a wine importer, underscoring who is carrying the legal fight.
The amicus docket features bipartisan lawmakers, former officials and policy groups—and key business associations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a coalition brief urging the Court to find that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, arguing the measures exceed statutory limits and harm companies of all sizes. Yet, unlike other high-profile Supreme Court battles that have drawn dozens of filings from blue-chip brands, the most prominent corporate voices are notably subdued while small firms and trade groups front the case. The contrast reflects how politically fraught this fight has become and how companies are calibrating risk amid an unpredictable policy environment.
At issue is more than one president’s trade playbook. A ruling that upholds broad tariff authority under IEEPA could entrench expansive executive power over import taxes; a ruling that cuts it back would reaffirm Congress’s primacy on tariffs and taxes and likely force the White House to pivot to narrower trade statutes. Businesses are watching closely because tariff whiplash has upended pricing, supply chains, and planning, with costs largely borne inside the United States. If the Court invalidates some or all of the duties, refund logistics and future policy tools will immediately jump to the fore.
The Court is expected to rule later this term. However it lands, companies will be recalculating: either preparing for a new round of tariff policymaking under tighter legal guardrails, or bracing for continued volatility if sweeping emergency tariffs survive judicial scrutiny.