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Smith: farmer relief should survive U.S. Supreme Court tariff case

The chairman of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee says he’s optimistic farmer aid from the Trump administration won’t be affected by an upcoming decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on President Trump’s recent tariff actions.

“It should not, because the president is on a mission to provide that relief for for our commodity farmers.”

Jason Smith from Missouri tells Brownfield trade aid is still on the table for U.S. farmers despite the recent trade framework between the U.S. and China.

“The sooner the better (for trade aid distribution), but this government shutdown is messing up a lot of things.”

Smith says he’s interested to see what SCOTUS says and will attend the event.

“The courts have already, basically, decided on the president’s authority for Section 301 and 232 tariffs. Those have been tried over the last several years and have found he has the authority.”

But Smith says a president hasn’t used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act before to issue tariffs.

“However, I believe they have authority based on the language of the statute.”

SCOTUS will be determining if IEEPA can legally be used to impose economic measures, like tariffs. IEEPA is a U.S. law that grants the president authority to regulate international economic transactions in a national emergency. 

The administration has said it plans to use tariff revenue to fund trade relief payments.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday, starting at 10 a.m. eastern/9 a.m. central.