Ohioans react to Supreme Court decision shutting off one avenue for imposing tariffs

Added Husted: “I look forward to working with the president, his administration, and my colleagues in the Senate to continue supporting America-first trade policies, prioritizing American consumers and job creators, and pushing back on adversaries like China.”

“Today’s Supreme Court decision reinforced the constitutional separation of powers: Congress — not the president alone — holds the power to regulate international trade, including by imposing tariffs, under Article I, Section 8,“ U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, said on X. ”Tariffs can be an important tool to protect American workers and our industrial base, and for legitimate foreign policy goals. After today’s Supreme Court ruling, there will be efforts to grant the president broader tariff authority."

But Turner added: “I do not support Congress further granting any president express, broad, and unrestrained tariff authority.”

“SCOTUS’s outrageous ruling handcuffs our fight against unfair trade that has devastated American workers for decades,” Sen. Bernie Moreno said on X. “These tariffs protected jobs, revived manufacturing, and forced cheaters like China to pay up. Now globalists win, factories investments may reverse, and American workers lose again. This betrayal must be reversed and Republicans must get to work immediately on a reconciliation bill to codify the tariffs that had made our country the hottest country on earth!”

“The chamber is committed to ensuring minimal regulatory and cost burdens, so that our local business community can operate freely,” said Chris Kershner, president and chief executive of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. “While we understand that tariffs play a role in global trade policy, the Dayton-area business community needs tariff policies to be at reasonable levels that avoid increasing costs and supply chain disruptions on their operations.”

How does the ruling affect Ohio manufacturers? That depends on whom you ask.

“Ask ten manufacturers and you’ll probably get ten answers, so right now it’s about watching how it plays out for Ohio manufacturers,” said Dave O’Neil, a spokesman for the Ohio Manufacturing Association.

Toledo Democrat U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur said tariffs have impacted employers in her district. “Our farmers, manufacturers, and local tourism economy have been hit hardest. Every day, our consumers have paid dearly,” she wrote on X.

While the 6-3 ruling appeared to close off one avenue for the presidential imposition of tariffs, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a long dissent, listed other sources of trade authority to which the president could turn.

Greg Knox, founder and CEO of Knox Manufacturing Solutions in Franklin, was not shy about making the case for tariffs in a recent interview with the Dayton Daily News.

Credit: Nick Graham

Credit: Nick Graham

“A big secret, and we all know it,” he said in January. “Tariffs have been around for a long time, but they’ve just been levied against us.”

“I do believe tariffs are a good thing in the long run,” he added. “Staying the course, it does work.”

Jeff Trent, a spokesman for global auto parts manufacturer Mahle Behr, which has hundreds of Dayton employees, had a different take, also in a January interview.

“The key point is the cost (of tariffs) is real, and it’s not a cost we can absorb,” Trent said.

Mahle Behr can negotiate supplying parts to an original equipment manufacturer, such as General Motors or Honda, Mahle Behr Executive Director of Operations Eugene DiGirolamo said in January. The prices are set at that point. Suddenly rising costs can’t be easily or quickly passed on to customers, he said.

Life, he added, would be “dramatically easier” from a tier 1-supplier perspective — which is what Mahle Behr is, as an automotive parts supplier — if tariffs lessened or stabilized.