On February 20th, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize President Donald Trump to impose tariffs - a landmark decision that immediately scrambled U.S. trade policy and sent governments and businesses across the Indo-Pacific into a scramble to figure out what it means for them.

Co-hosts Ray Powell and Jim Carouso are joined by two of the sharpest minds in U.S. trade and Asia-Pacific economic policy: Bill Reinsch, Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and co-host of the Trade Guys podcast, and Nydia Ngiow, Managing Director for Global Trade and Economics at BowerGroupAsia in Singapore.

In Episode 132 we break down:

• What IEEPA is, how it became a tariff weapon, and why the Court said “no”

• Trump’s immediate Plan B - a 15% global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, and why that will almost certainly be challenged in court too

• What Section 301, Section 232, and other alternative trade tools mean for countries in the region - and why they may be slower, narrower, and harder to wield

• Whether countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Cambodia that negotiated trade deals under the IEEPA tariff threat got a raw deal - and what happens to those agreements now

• The potential for domestic political backlash against leaders seen as having made too many concessions to Washington

• Why the ruling may not have handcuffed Trump as much as the headlines suggest

• And what the real-world economic impact of tariffs has - and hasn’t - been over the past year

If you follow U.S.-China trade tensions, Indo-Pacific economics and geopolitics, or global supply chains, this episode is essential listening.

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👉 Follow Ray Powell on X, @GordianKnotRay, or LinkedIn, or check out his maritime transparency work at SeaLight

👉 Follow Jim Carouso on LinkedIn

👉 Sponsored by BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm that specializes in the Indo-Pacific

Why Should We Care if the U.S. Supreme Court Just Struck Down Trump’s Tariffs? | with Bill Reinsch and Nydia Ngiow

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