By imposing sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, President Donald Trump has turned U.S. trade policy on its head.

The question now before the Supreme Court is whether the president has the legal authority to increase tariffs without explicit congressional approval.

Hello, and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Thursday, November 6, 2025.

Last month, President Trump said he might attend yesterday's Supreme Court arguments in the case. He did not,

but his statement underscores his

investment here. Should he lose, the U.S. will have to return billions of dollars already collected,

a logistical nightmare. Joining me to discuss yesterday's oral arguments in the case is USA Today

Supreme Court correspondent, Maureen Grappie. Maure Marine, it's good to have you on the excerpt.

Well, thanks for having me on.

Before we get into yesterday's arguments, tell me about this case and what the justices

will be weighing here.

So this is a case about whether the president had authority under a specific law that

deals with emergency situations to impose these tariffs.

There are other laws that clearly give the president the ability to impose tariffs in

certain circumstances, but President Trump was claiming an authority that really almost has no

limits and wouldn't require him to go through the same kinds of procedures,

lengthy processes, and to impose tariffs in the more limited circumstances that those other

laws would allow. So the question before the court was, did the president correctly interpret

this law? Was he correct that this law does give him that authority? So President Trump

invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify these sweeping tariffs broadly.

What is that act designed to do? It's never been used by a president before Trump to impose

tariffs. What it's been used for is to do things like freeze

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