What the Supreme Court’s tariff decision means for small businesses
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
Nearly a year ago, Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, slapping high import taxes on goods from countries around the world. The sweeping tariffs hurt the New York-based wine importer VOS Selections, one of several plaintiffs that challenged the Trump administration in court, arguing the president lacked the ability to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Today, the Supreme Court agreed, ruling that many of President Trump’s tariffs are unconstitutional. NPR’s Scott Detrow talks with NPR Chief Economics Correspondent Scott Horsley and NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg about the court’s decision and what it means for businesses and consumers.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Supreme Court's ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing, and I'm ashamed of certain members of the court. |
| 0:10.8 | That was President Trump reacting to the Supreme Court's decision ruling that many of his tariffs are unconstitutional. |
| 0:17.8 | It was nearly a year ago when Trump announced sweeping tariffs on goods from countries all over the world, a day he called Liberation Day. |
| 0:26.2 | The day American industry was reborn, the day America's destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again. |
| 0:38.2 | Trump argued the tariffs would strengthen the international economic position of the U.S. |
| 0:43.1 | But American businesses that import goods and had to pay the new taxes had a different reaction. |
| 0:48.0 | The tariffs changed so many times. |
| 0:50.7 | We had to deal with so many different shipping issues. |
| 0:53.8 | We had to go through and change our entire |
| 0:57.1 | price book, many hundreds of items, four times. Victor Schwartz is the founder of the New York-based |
| 1:03.0 | wine importer VOS selections. He said in addition to confusion for his customers, the tariffs |
| 1:08.6 | pummeled his company. Finding the money to pay the tariffs, it put a big hole in our cash flow. When you have to come up with that kind of money, you know, for us, it's like in the six-figure range. Where's that money going to come from? According to the J.P. Morgan Chase Institute, mid-sized U.S. businesses paid three times as much in tariffs last year as they did before Trump returned |
| 1:28.4 | to the White House, costing those businesses and consumers tens of billions of dollars. Now, |
| 1:34.3 | about half of Trump's tariffs are out, but Trump has vowed to forge ahead with tariffs. |
| 1:39.4 | But other alternatives will now be used to replace the ones that the court incorrectly rejected? |
| 1:45.0 | Consider this. The Supreme Court has shot down one of President Trump's signature economic policies. |
| 1:51.0 | So what comes next? |
| 1:53.0 | From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow. |
| 2:08.2 | It's Consider this from NPR. |
| 2:12.2 | Nearly a year ago, President Trump followed through on one of his campaign promises, |
| 2:16.7 | imposing sweeping tariffs on goods from dozens of U.S. trading partners. |
| 2:18.5 | Using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, known as IEPA, Trump argued he had the constitutional power to |
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