'Bad for business': CEO suing Trump in Supreme Court rails against 'unlawful' policy

U.S. President Donald Trump attends a press conference in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

The Supreme Court is preparing to hear a CEO's lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his claiming of emergency powers to unilaterally impose tariffs, and the executive is confident that his company will prevail.

Learning Resources CEO Rick Woldenberg is asserting that Trump's use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977 to slap tariffs on imported goods without the consent of Congress is "unlawful." He told MSNBC on Tuesday that the tariffs amount to an "asphyxiating tax" of millions of dollars each year and are inhibiting his company's ability to make business decisions.

"The size of the problem and the size of the implications meant that we had to take action to defend ourselves. I think that the case is actually pretty simple," he said. "The government brags that it's $50 billion a month in proceeds. That's just not bearable. And they've also promised that this is permanent. So we either choose to pay a tax we believe is unlawful, or we challenge it and ask the court to review it and decide."

Woldenberg went on to say that he and his legal team were pushing for a decision to come down shortly after Wednesday's oral arguments. His main argument is that in 2024, his tariff-related expenses were $0, but in 2025 they will be approximately $14 million — with that cost potentially doubling in 2026.

"We're behaving the way someone would behave if they had a sudden and irreversible expense of $14 million," he said. "We're hiring fewer people. We're spending less money on [capital expenditures]. We're developing fewer products. We're reducing our marketing spend. It's it's bad for business because it's diverting us from exercising our business judgment, which is how we got this far and what we want to do going forward."

"I think that the math that the administration is showing is a one sided equation. They don't really care to think about the costs," he continued. "They contend that there are advantages that I think are principally negotiating advantages. But many of the the problems that they say they've they've solved were problems that are a result of high tariffs."