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WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

Donald Trump’s Tariff Power Faces a Skeptical Supreme Court

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

Society & Culture, News

42.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Oral arguments are presented about whether Donald Trump can hold on to his power to impose tariffs without the approval of Congress. The Justices question the nature of the 'emergency,' but will the eventual ruling hurt or help the President’s economic agenda, and how will investors react? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.6

From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

0:40.3

The Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case challenging Donald Trump's emergency tariffs, and most of the justices,

0:46.7

not all but most, seem to doubt their legality for one reason or another. We'll break down the

0:52.7

historic argument at the court on Wednesday. And what

0:56.1

happens if the sweeping tariffs are overturned? Welcome. I'm Paul Giego with the Wall Street

1:02.5

Journal Opinion podcast, Potomac Watch here. And I'm with Alicia Finley, who covers the court for us.

1:08.4

And Joe Sternberg, who follows international trade and the economy, among other things, but they both follow the court for us, and Joe Sternberg, who follows international trade and the economy,

1:12.8

among other things, but they both follow the court. Welcome to you both. Let's listen to some

1:17.6

excerpts from the oral argument delineate some of the issues in the case. That argument extended

1:23.5

for nearly three hours. First, let's listen to Justice Elena Kagan, ask the Solicitor General

1:29.9

John Sauer, who's representing President Trump, about the power to declare an emergency in this case.

1:35.8

You know, we've had cases recently, which deals with the president's emergency powers,

1:40.0

and it turns out we're in emergencies everything all the time about like half the world.

1:44.9

Well, this particular emergency is particularly existential, as Executive Order 14257 says.

1:49.5

And of course, no one disputes the existential nature of the fentanyl crisis, which, you know,

1:53.7

we had an agreement last week to create progress on, which illustrates the effectiveness of the

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