meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Global Economy Podcast

Episode 119: The Trump Tariffs on Trial – What Are the Cases in the Supreme Court About? with Jeffrey Schwab

Global Economy Podcast

ECIPE

Business

4.25 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Fredrik Erixon speaks to Jeffrey Schwab of the Liberty Justice Center about the legality of the “Liberation Day tariffs”. A ruling by the Supreme Court is expected soon, and Schwab is the plaintiff lawyer behind the case V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump. Schwab lays out his case and explains the constitutional limits of presidential tariff powers. They explore the legal arguments, implications for businesses, prospects for potential refunds, and the expected timeline for the Court’s ruling. You can watch a video recording of this conversation here. You can read a transcript of the chat here. Jeffrey Schwab serves as Senior Counsel and Interim Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, where he litigates cases to protect civil liberties and constitutional rights. Jeff has a particular interest in protecting the right of free speech and enforcing constitutional and other legal limits on government. He served as counsel for Mark Janus in Janus v. AFSCME, the landmark case in which the United States Supreme Court found that public employees could not be compelled to pay money to a union without their consent. He currently leads Liberty Justice Center’s efforts to enforce the Janus decision and protect public employees’ rights not to be forced to join or pay a union. Jeff has also served as lead counsel in Liberty Justice Center cases challenging restrictions on ride-share vehicles and home-sharing hosts, the implementation of a tax on Internet streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify on Chicago residents, and campaign finance laws that seek to benefit certain political contributors over others. Additionally, Jeff challenged an Illinois law limiting which courts people who seek to vindicate their constitutional rights against the state can file. He is admitted to practice in Illinois and is licensed in the US Supreme Court, the First, Second, Third, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as federal district courts in Illinois.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello and welcome to ESAB's Global Economy podcast.

0:14.7

My name is Frederick Erickson and today we are going to take a deep dive into the process

0:20.3

in the United States over the legality

0:22.8

of the so-called Trump tariffs.

0:26.0

And with me today to explain what's going on is Jeffrey Schwab, the Senior Council and

0:30.9

Interim Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center, a public interest litigation

0:36.4

that work to protect economic liberty,

0:38.7

private property rights, free speech, and other fundamental rights.

0:43.8

Welcome so much, Jeffrey.

0:44.9

Thanks for having me.

0:47.9

So let me take a moment to set this up first.

0:51.8

On April 2nd this year, the Trump administration announced the so-called

0:55.8

Liberation Day tariffs. Since then, there has been a lot of back and forth on the tariffs

1:02.0

and how they are applied on other nations. I think most of our listeners and viewers

1:06.9

have probably followed this already very closely. Today, we're going to talk about the legality of

1:13.9

these tariffs, and Jeff is the perfect man to do this with because he is one of the persons

1:19.1

behind the fact that we are now waiting for the US Supreme Court to rule on whether these

1:25.1

tariffs are legal or not, and precisely whether the administration has the power to unilaterally decide levels of tax in the United States.

1:36.2

In this case, which I think is called VOS Selections Inc. versus Trump, Jeff and his colleagues sued the administration and argued that the

1:46.3

International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the power to the precedent to unilaterally

1:53.7

introduced tariffs in the way the administration did. Jeff and his team won in late May in the

1:59.5

U.S. Court of International Trade.

...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 7 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ECIPE, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ECIPE and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.