The Supreme Court is now weighing whether President Trump’s tariffs, which hinge on a specified economic emergency power, can remain intact. It leaves one of his biggest policy initiatives hanging in the balance.

While upholding the tariffs would mark a vast expansion of presidential power, striking them down could unleash a host of dilemmas for Trump — from mass payouts to finding new legal authority to push his priorities across the line.

What would await the administration, in the words of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is “a mess.”

Refunds for companies

The Trump administration has acknowledged that a Supreme Court loss would mean refunds of the billions in tariff revenue already collected.

It convinced lower courts to pause their rulings invalidating the tariffs in part because of concerns the refunds could be issued, only for the Supreme Court to potentially declare the tariffs legal and make it difficult to claw back the cash.

Refunds for the group of small businesses challenging Trump’s tariffs at the high court would be the most straightforward; the administration already agreed to pay them back if it loses.

As for the others, Neal Katyal, who represented the businesses at the argument, told Barrett “it's a very complicated thing” that involves formal protests and administrative procedures.

“So, a mess?” Barrett responded.

Katyal replied, “So, it's difficult, absolutely.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News on Thursday that he’ll “hand that file” to the Treasury Department to process refunds if the court rules for the challengers.

“You’ll have all these importers and importing interests who are going to want that money back,” Greer said. “And so, we’ll have to........

© The Hill