‘Everyone was expecting this’: State officials react to tariff decision as questions linger

OLYMPIA – The Supreme Court’s decision this week to strike down a large swath of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration was not a surprise, Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said in an interview Friday.

“Everyone was expecting this. This was not a surprise at all,” Heck said inside his office in the state capitol. “Not withstanding the president’s reaction to it.”

Heck was among the Washington officials who praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the sweeping trade tariffs President Donald Trump issued through emergency powers last year.

In a 6-3 decision, the court found that Trump asserted “extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration and scope” but did not have authority to do so. The court, however, did not address how the federal government should repay the roughly $130 billion it has collected from importers since the tariffs took effect last year.

However, the lack of clarity around what happens to the money, and Trump’s announcement to impose a new 10% global tariff, further muddies the country’s trade policy, Heck said.

“This doesn’t necessarily dictate a clear path forward. We’re going to have some cloud here, and some chaos,” Heck said, citing the president’s announcement that he would attempt to impose tariffs through other means. “He has a variety of means of continuing tariffs, but probably not as full-throated as the current tariffs are.”

Even if the president were to impose tariffs through other avenues, Heck said it would still ultimately result in a modest reduction.

Heck, who previously represented Washington’s 10th Congressional District for four terms, serves as Chair of Washington’s Legislative Committee on Economic Development and International Relations, which studies international trade, tourism and industrial development. Since taking office as lieutenant governor, Heck has led trade missions to Canada, Mexico, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

Until recently, Heck also served as vice-chair of the Export-Import Bank of the United States Advisory Council.

Heck said the court’s decision to invalidate most of Trump’s tariffs could have ripple effects throughout the economy, including at the Federal Reserve, which could be “more flexible” in considering interest rate cuts.

“It doesn’t mean they’re going to do it necessarily,” Heck said. “Obviously, this means they are at least going to go down a little; it might go down quite a bit. And that’s an inflationary pressure that’s contributed to them holding the line, the pause they hit, as opposed to a reduction.”

In a statement on Friday, Gov. Bob Ferguson noted that Washington is the most trade-reliant state in the country.

“Research has shown that American companies and consumers are bearing 90 percent of the economic burden of President Trump’s tariffs,” Ferguson said. “That’s why I led a coalition of more than two dozen public and private partners to tell Washington’s story to the Supreme Court. The court agreed with us and struck down the President’s harmful and illegal tariffs.”

In October, Ferguson was among a group of 28 public and private partners who signed onto a brief to the Supreme Court supporting the effort to block the tariffs, which stated the partners had “borne the consequences of President Trump’s unlawful tariffs and disregard for separation of powers.”

State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti also signed on to the brief. In a statement on Friday, Pellicciotti said the “unilaterally and chaotically implemented tariffs unlawfully drove up prices, threatened jobs, and increased the cost of business operations here in Washington.”

“A president cannot tax Americans on a whim to reward favored businesses or foreign leaders,” Pellicciotti said. “Today’s decision made it clear that the President exceeded his authority by doing so.”

Several members of the state’s Congressional delegation also praised the decision. Sen. Maria Cantwell said Friday that it was “so important because consumers all over our state and the country have been hurt.”

“Small businesses, manufacturers, individual households have all had to pay higher prices on products that they can’t afford. We need to really be concerned about America’s competitiveness and thank God the court has given us some relief,” Cantwell said.

Shortly after Trump announced sweeping “liberation day” tariffs last year, Cantwell and Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley introduced legislation that would have restricted a president’s ability to institute tariffs without Congressional approval. The legislation has not advanced out of committee.

On Friday, Cantwell also called for the money collected from the tariffs to be returned, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“The Administration should have been preparing for months for the potential that the Supreme Court might agree with the position taken by lower courts – including the Court of International Trade, district courts, and the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals – that the president exceeded his legal authority under IEEPA,” Cantwell wrote. “Thus, it is essential Treasury implement an expeditious and transparent process to remediate the financial harm that resulted from these illegal tariffs.”

Sen. Patty Murray also praised the decision Friday, and called the wide-ranging tariffs “economic arson.”

“On a whim, the President would upend entire industries and drastically drive up costs or block our small businesses from markets they depended on – it was sheer stupidity that cost us jobs and drove up prices for just about everyone,” Murray said.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted narrowly on Feb. 11 to overturn Trump’s tariffs on goods from Canada, with Rep. Dan Newhouse of Sunnyside one of just six Republicans who helped Democrats pass the measure.

Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, voted against it despite having previously expressed concerns about the president’s liberal use of import taxes, saying that until the Supreme Court ruled on the legality of the tariffs, it would “be difficult to get Congress to coalesce around practical legislation.”

Reporter Orion Donovan Smith contributed to this report