President Trump's use of the Emergency Powers Act is disallowed and USDA lowers the number for planted acres of wheat, corn and soybeans.
Trump Tariffs denied, lower planted acre number predicted for 2026
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On Friday, President Trump lost his case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court over his use of the Emergency Powers Act to impose tariffs on the major trading partners of the United States. The day before, USDA released it's acreage prediction at the 102nd Agricultural Outlook Forum.
Transcript
In a 6-3 decision Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s use of the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.
The high court said the power of tariffs, the central plank of the President’s economic plan, are given to Congress and is “very clearly” spelled out in the Constitution. The act is meant to be used only during national emergencies.
In April as part of Liberation Day, the president cited the drug flow from several countries, including major U.S. trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, among the reasons for implementing the duties.
The baseline duty of 10% was imposed last spring on nearly all imports to the U.S. with even higher rates on specific goods and countries.
The dissenting opinion said the tariffs may or may not be wise policy, but as a matter of text, history and precedent, they are clearly lawful. The president could use other laws to impose tariffs if he chooses.
President Donald J. Trump: “The Supreme Courts ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing and I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed by not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.”
Before the ruling, USDA was conducting business as usual, holding its 102nd annual Agricultural Outlook Forum.
While there were Q &A sessions focusing on the future of U.S. agriculture…
USTR Ambassador Julie Callahan: “That is really an untapped set of countries with growing populations”
…the most anticipated portion of the Forum were the outlook numbers for stocks, acreage, and projected harvest.
USDA number crunchers are predicting wheat acres to drop by 300,000 to 45 million as U.S. growers shift over to corn and soybeans.
Corn acres were cut from last year’s 98.8 million to 94 million Stocks are forecast at 17.9 billion bushels, down about 4% from last year’s record of 18.6 billion.
Projections for planted soybean acres moved higher from last season’s 81.2 million to this year’s 85 million.
Overall, USDA expects 224 million acres to be planted in these three crops, down nearly a million from last year.
For Market to Market, I’m David Miller.
contact: Miller@iowapbs.org
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