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Democratic Party in West Virginia applauds ruling on Trump tariffs

(West Virginia Capitol News - Graphic Illustration generated with the use of ChatGPT)

CHARLESTON — A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump were illegal was praised by the West Virginia Democratic Party.

The court on Friday in a 6-3 decision said Trump’s tariffs exceeded presidential authority given by Congress in a 1977 law to regulate commerce during national emergencies created by foreign threats. The court didn’t speak on how refunds will be made.

The decision affirms the party’s claims that Trump’s trade war “was illegal, reckless and devastating to working families,” state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Pushkin said. Tariffs led to higher prices for consumers, he said.

“West Virginians were forced to pay higher prices on everything from groceries to construction materials because Trump thought he could gamble with the global economy,” Pushkin said. “And here at home, more than 1,000 coal jobs have been tied to the fallout from his tariffs and the retaliatory trade measures they triggered. He didn’t secure better deals. He didn’t lower costs. He handed the American people a $175 billion bill and called it strategy.”

Families and small businesses, not foreign governments, pay for the tariffs, said Teresa Toriseva, party vice chairman.

“It’s miners worried about whether their jobs will survive the next trade retaliation,” she said.

“The numbers don’t lie. Inflation is up, growth is slowing, savings are shrinking, and jobs have been lost,” Toriseva said. “The Supreme Court did its job (Friday). Now we must ensure that working people are never again forced to bankroll a reckless and illegal trade war.”

On the Republican side, Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., said the president “… still possesses many statutory means to impose tariffs that protect American workers, who, as West Virginians know better than anyone, have been under assault in a trade war for the past 40 years.”

Moore said the court’s decision was wrong as a matter of law and justice for American workers.

“As Justice Kavanaugh explained in his dissent, President Trump’s tariffs are clearly lawful as a matter of ‘text, history, and precedent.’ He specifically cited President Nixon’s 1971 decision to impose 10% tariffs ‘across the board on virtually all imports from every country in the world’ – a policy that federal courts approved,” Moore said. “In his own opinion, Justice Thomas emphasized that Congress may delegate many powers to the President and has done so repeatedly throughout American history, as with (International Emergency Economic Powers Act.)”

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