The majority of the sweeping tariffs Donald Trump imposed during his second term face one final litmus test that will determine whether he can continue to levy them – and also whether businesses are eligible for massive refunds.

That potentially dramatic turn in the tariff saga comes after a federal appeals court ruled on Friday that Trump unlawfully leaned on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose across-the-board duties on countries.

Trump had used those powers to push import tax rates as high as 50% on India and Brazil – and as high as 145% on China earlier this year.

  • moakley@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    So that would mean that the Trump tariffs were sending American money overseas for no reason. I doubt it’ll actually happen, but holy shit is Trump an incompetent idiot.

    • SlippiHUD@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      No, the US company recieving the import pays the tarrif to the US government.

      But yes, Trump is an idiot.

      • moakley@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Oh, duh. I’m embarrassed I got it confused. I was thinking that the cost is passed on to the importer, but it’s actually paid by the importer.

        • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          Yeah they aren’t telling companies you have to pay to send your product here, because there would be no way to collect that, as they aren’t governed by us. (Trolls standing on a bridge comes to mind). Instead every item imported into the country is bought by someone, that someone has to have an itemized list of what they purchased to go through customs and what not to make sure they aren’t crates full of dynamite, or plant seeds that are unauthorized. That inventory and costs are then taxed by the government or held by customs I believe.

          e.g. If Paul sets a tariff on Amazon orders at his house, his wife orders a package off Amazon. USPS or whomever delivers the package, Paul’s security guard, likely Paul himself gets the inventory of the packages that arrive, see it is from Amazon and charges his wife 50% of that cost to take it into the house. Amazon has no part in that process. Buttt what it may do is make Puals wife less likely to order from Amazon, IF it is cheaper to get the product from someone else then. If the product was $50 on Amazon, and $100 at the store, she would still buy it off Amazon as she would still only pay $75 after the tax, instead of $100.

          Paul just made $25 in taxes that he can invest into the house. His wife spent $25 more. Amazon made the same, but may lose future business.

          • moakley@lemmy.world
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            21 hours ago

            Right. I was thinking of the suspension of the de minimis exemption. Because that’s an $80 fee that the exporter does have to pay, if I understand it correctly.

            • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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              21 hours ago

              Those are paid by the importer as far as I understand. The di minimus exemption that was passed was essentially supposed to make it so low cost items bought from other countries were exempt from tariffs/taxes. This meant that if you ordered something from Brazil, China, wherever and it was under a certain amount (think it was $800) it would just go through without being hit by the tax. Thus making it cheaper for the end buyer. Trump made an executive order to stop that because that would exempt a lot of people from getting hit by the taxes. Which was put in place with both parties supporting it… So it’s solely a new maga tariff thing in my opinion. Buy a $3 million server rack from elsewhere, pay a fee, buy a new shirt, would be exempt. But Trump didn’t want that, so he claimed it would reduce security and allow drugs into the country or some shit.

              • moakley@lemmy.world
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                20 hours ago

                Right. There was an Australian redditor who made his living selling handmade wallets, but he had to shut it down because the price just went up $80 per wallet. Fucking idiotic.

                • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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                  20 hours ago

                  It also hits things like vapes. Consequently making it so their price goes up and cigarettes stay the same, as most small electronics like that aren’t usually made here. Vaping isn’t good, but it should help make sure more people stay smoking cigarettes.

    • paperazzi@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Yes, yes he is and that was abundantly clear from his first term. But at least the female POC didn’t get in, right? Dodged a bullet there.

      /s of course