There’s no doubt that the past few months have been one of the quickest flurries of presidential action in American history. With the Trump administration signing one executive order after another, the federal government has moved at breakneck speed to reshape America after last year’s election.
These actions, though, have not lacked pushback. Judges around the country have already ruled that certain actions overstep the bounds of the executive branch, or that the actions altogether are unconstitutional. Only one problem — they’re simply being ignored. And these clashes between court and president aren’t just legal squabbles. They can carry significant consequences for the country’s checks and balances and the future of its citizens.
For example, the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego García, a lawful resident of the country, drove reactions across the political spectrum. Within days, courts had ordered his return from El Salvador, where he remains held in prison. By April 10, the Supreme Court unanimously ordered his return as well.
But more than a month after these orders, the case remains in litigation, and the administration seems to have changed little to address the situation.
All the while, García remains in a Salvadoran prison infamous for its human rights abuses, while his family in America anxiously awaits a resolution.
Many others find themselves in the same boat as García: the administration’s orders on immigration and deportation have been among those most contested by courts for the sweeping changes they make to decades of precedent on immigration law.
But this battle between the judiciary and the executive extends beyond just this issue. One of the most drastic changes made to the government has been the rapid and unexpected layoff of over 260,000 federal workers, many of them in critical areas like the Department of Health and Human Services.
This unprecedented change, highlighted by policies such as offering federal workers a buyout, has also attracted significant judicial pushback. Many of the layoffs trace responsibility back to Elon Musk’s DOGE, which lacks the federal authority of a department. As a result, judges have ordered a freeze on many of the layoffs — only, once again, to be largely ignored as in the case of Abrego García.
For tens of thousands of federal workers, these changes mean no longer trusting the federal government with their livelihood. Even for those who want to stay, the time it might take for the deadlock to end means they have to start looking for a new job now. In other words, the damage from these firings could very well be permanent. The sudden imposition of tariffs on nearly half of the countries on the planet has thrown global trade into chaos, highlighted by a 145 percent rate on China that effectively chokes American trade with the country. With almost everyone on their toes about what could come next, it’s important to know the basics of what tariffs actually are and what they could do.
Contrary to President Trump’s messaging and what approximately 42 percent of Americans believe based on a YouGov poll, tariffs are not paid by foreign manufacturers or governments. Instead, they are paid by importers, usually American businesses, to the federal government. For this reason, tariffs tend to raise the prices that Americans have to pay as companies face higher costs to make the same goods or services.
Some consumers have responded to the new tariffs by rapidly buying up anything they may need in the near future — notably, Apple saw a surge in purchases for iPhones and other products, anticipating that their prices would rise after the tariffs on China were imposed. They aren’t entirely wrong for it either — analysts at Rosenblatt Securities estimated that a $1600 iPhone 16 Pro could cost as much as $2300 after tariffs.
For now, though, most companies are holding out and weathering the storm in hopes that tariffs will soon be rescinded or noticeably decreased. However, no guarantees exist as the Trump administration tries to sort out individual trade deals with the countries affected. After a certain point, a sudden price rise could be nearly inevitable if new agreements are not ironed out fast enough.
That’s not to say tariffs are without their benefit. Inherent in their introduction was the goal of protecting American manufacturing and reducing trade deficits. By raising import prices, businesses here are encouraged to work with each other as opposed to looking abroad. In the long run, it could protect American industry, though it would take time to rebuild after decades of decline. The immediate cost increases from tariffs would also mean that many of these companies would have to deal with a myriad of issues until they can remake their supply chains, a process that could easily take years. However, this long-run revival of industry could also fizzle out if the cost of manufacturing still remains too high, or if a future administration decides to reverse course on tariffs altogether.
Generally, tariffs will largely burden American consumers, with only an uncertain potential to assist producers. Economists see the issue as even less two-sided. In a Stanford survey, 93 percent of economists said that even targeted tariffs on imported goods wouldn’t make the country better off.
There’s also the impact on America’s international relations. Tariffs on countries across the globe have already begun to antagonize us as countries increasingly see the US as an unfriendly and unwelcome force. Even more concerning is that many tariffs were imposed on American allies such as the UK and Canada. The treatment of these countries as just like any other, or even as enemies, has thrown our relationships into chaos and made them reconsider whether America is a reliable ally — something that could be devastating as the US tries to maintain its leadership in an unstable world.
Tariffs are certainly one response to problems that the country has dealt with for years — its massive trade deficits and the decades-long gutting of its manufacturing. However, tariffs represent a relatively brute-force solution that fails to address the fundamental issues and raises prices for the everyday American. At the same time, it threatens American leadership and calls our alliances into question.
In their current form, the soon-to-be-enforced tariffs have a dangerous potential to reshape the world away from the US. For the sake of the country and the prices that they will have to pay, voters should oppose these policies in any way available to them. In particular, Congress has the final say on any tariffs and trade policy, and concerned citizens can advocate to their Congressmen and senators to break their silence and take a stance. Also, by being aware of the tariffs’ potential impacts, they can show how they will respond to these policies with their own dollars. Those iPhone hoarders didn’t just potentially save a buck for themselves — they showed the government, and the people, what tariffs really mean.