The Supreme Court is preparing to hear a lawsuit brought by Learning Resources CEO Rick Woldenberg against President Donald Trump regarding the latter’s unilateral use of emergency powers to impose tariffs.
Woldenberg is challenging Trump’s invocation of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977, arguing that using it to slap tariffs on imported goods without Congressional approval is “unlawful.” Speaking to MSNBC on Tuesday, he described the tariffs as an “asphyxiating tax” costing his company millions of dollars each year and hindering its ability to make sound business decisions.
“The size of the problem and the size of the implications meant that we had to take action to defend ourselves. I think that the case is actually pretty simple,” Woldenberg said. “The government brags that it’s $50 billion a month in proceeds. That’s just not bearable. And they’ve also promised that this is permanent. So we either choose to pay a tax we believe is unlawful, or we challenge it and ask the court to review it and decide.”
Woldenberg and his legal team are pushing for a prompt decision following Wednesday’s oral arguments. He highlighted the financial impact the tariffs have had on his company, noting that in 2024 their tariff-related expenses were zero, but in 2025 they are expected to spike to approximately $14 million, with costs potentially doubling in 2026.
“We’re behaving the way someone would behave if they had a sudden and irreversible expense of $14 million,” he explained. “We’re hiring fewer people. We’re spending less money on capital expenditures. We’re developing fewer products. We’re reducing our marketing spend. It’s bad for business because it’s diverting us from exercising our business judgment, which is how we got this far and what we want to do going forward.”
Woldenberg also criticized the administration’s accounting of the tariffs’ effects. “I think that the math that the administration is showing is a one-sided equation. They don’t really care to think about the costs,” he said. “They contend that there are advantages that I think are principally negotiating advantages. But many of the problems that they say they’ve solved were problems that are a result of high tariffs.”
Watch the segment below:
https://www.rawstory.com/bad-for-business-ceo-suing-trump-in-supreme-court-rails-against-unlawful-policy/