Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Tariffs, a Potential Win for the U.S. Alcohol Industry

The Supreme Court ruled against President Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Friday, a decision that could return U.S. alcohol imports to levels seen before the second Trump era. It is the first Supreme Court ruling to thwart a key component of the administration’s economic agenda.

A dozen states and a number of small businesses sued the president after the announcement of his self-dubbed “Liberation Day” tariffs. The suits were consolidated into a single case with the Supreme Court after three lower courts deemed the levies unlawful. Among the first lawsuits in the efforts against Trump’s duties on over 100 countries came from a small, family-run wine importer called VOS selections.

Trump argued that invoking the tariffs was in his power under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA). The bipartisan push against him argued that the president infringed on Congress’s constitutional authority to enact taxes and that they hurt both businesses and consumers. In the written opinion of the Court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the IEEPA statute — which does not include the word “tariff,” “taxes,” or “duties” — does not hand this power to the executive branch. When the tariff collection will cease is unknown, and the taxes looped into the Supreme Court’s decision account for only around half of those the administration has imposed.

Trump and his allies braced for this decision. Last month, the president’s primary trade negotiator Jamieson Greer said the administration would continue the fight to levy the impacted taxes under other laws if the Supreme Court overturned these ones. But the alternate laws the administration might leverage offer the president even less power, according to The New York Times.

For now, the U.S. alcohol industry is breathing a sigh of relief — though the administration’s aims continue to loom over businesses. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) urged Trump and his allies to remember the businesses — both big and small — negatively impacted by the far-reaching taxes in a Wine Business release.

“The elimination of tariffs on distilled spirits would provide much needed certainty for American spirits exporters while helping ease financial pressures on bars, restaurants and retailers at a time when affordability remains a major concern for consumers,” DISCUS said.

The Congressional Budget Office recorded a total of $133 billion from import taxes since imposing them. Impacted companies — both large conglomerates and small businesses — have begun petitions in court to receive refunds, the Associated Press reports.

In a joint dissenting opinion, conservative Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel A. Alito Jr., expressed trepidation about chaos caused by importers seeking refunds. Natural wine megawatt importer Zev Rovine — who has had to raise prices and seen slumps in business as a result of the tariffs — is glad about the decision. But the tariff saga’s back-and-forth nature tampers his expectations.

“It’s a potential win,” Rovine says. “I do think that, unfortunately, having gone through all the shit and how quickly the news changes on stuff, it might not be anything. People are talking about whether or not we’re gonna get refunds, and I think that [the administration is] gonna fight that tooth-and-nail.”

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