Trump administration asks Supreme Court to permit product safety agency firings
It's the administration's latest emergency bid at the high court to greenlight the president's efforts to remake agencies that have traditionally operated with a degree of independence from the White House.
In May, the Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling paving the way for Trump to fire leaders at the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board as litigation proceeds.
Court watchers took it as the latest sign that the justices are prepared to overrule its precedent that for decades has allowed certain independent agency leaders to be protected from termination without cause.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices that the district judge overseeing the CPSC case 'chose a different path' when he weeks later blocked Trump's CPSC firings.
Arguing that the ruling has 'sown chaos and dysfunction,' Sauer told the justices they should not only issue an emergency ruling, but they should also go ahead and take up the issue in full for their next term.
'This Court should step in to stop lower courts from treating Wilcox like the proverbial excursion ticket—good for one day and trip only,' Sauer wrote, referring to the earlier case.
It marks the Trump administration's 20th emergency appeal at the high court since taking office.
Trump purported to fire the three commissioners appointed by former President Biden, Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr., in May despite federal law protecting them from removal without cause
Represented by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, the commissioners soon sued.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox, a Biden appointee who serves in Baltimore, agreed their terminations were unlawful and blocked them in a ruling last month.
The administration's effort at the highest court comes after a three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday declined to halt Maddox's ruling.
'The district court's order effectively transfers control of the CPSC from President Trump to three Commissioners who had been appointed by President Biden,' Sauer wrote.
The commissioners' attorneys briefly responded in court filings later Wednesday, cautioning the justices against immediately intervening and asking the court to set a deadline for them to flesh out their arguments in writing.
'Because Respondents are currently serving and have been since June 13, an administrative stay would disrupt the status quo,' the filing reads.
Updated at 1:08 p.m. EDT
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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New York Post
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US and China to talk trade with eye on Trump-Xi summit later this year
WASHINGTON -- When top U.S. and Chinese officials meet in Stockholm, they are almost certain to agree to at least leaving tariffs at the current levels while working toward a meeting between their presidents later this year for a more lasting trade deal between the world's two largest economies, analysts say. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng are set to hold talks for the third time this year — this round in the Swedish capital, nearly four months after President Donald Trump upset global trade with his sweeping tariff proposal, including an import tax that shot up to 145% on Chinese goods. 'We have the confines of a deal with China,' Trump said Friday before leaving for Scotland. Bessent told MSNBC on Wednesday that the two countries after talks in Geneva and London have reached a 'status quo,' with the U.S. taxing imported goods from China at 30% and China responding with a 10% tariff, on top of tariffs prior to the start of Trump's second term. 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In Stockholm, Beijing will likely demand the removal of the 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump imposed earlier this year, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center. This round of the U.S.-China trade dispute began with fentanyl, when Trump in February imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, citing that China failed to curb the outflow of the chemicals used to make the drug. The following month, Trump added another 10% tax for the same reason. Beijing retaliated with extra duties on some U.S. goods, including coal, liquefied natural gas, and farm products such as beef, chicken, pork and soy. In Geneva, both sides climbed down from three-digit tariffs rolled out following Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April, but the U.S. kept the 20% 'fentanyl' tariffs, in addition to the 10% baseline rate — to which China responded by keeping the same 10% rate on U.S. products. 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'It's possible that Trump would cancel the 20% tariff that he has explicitly linked with fentanyl, but I would expect the final tariff level on China to be at least as high as the 15-20% rate contained in the recent deals with Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam,' Wildau said. China's industrial overcapacity is as much a headache for the United States as it is for the European Union. Even Beijing has acknowledged the problem but suggested it might be difficult to address. America's trade imbalance with China has decreased from a peak of $418 billion in 2018, according to the Census Bureau. But China has found new markets for its goods and as the world's dominant manufacturer ran a global trade surplus approaching $1 trillion last year — somewhat larger than the size of the U.S. overall trade deficit in 2024. And China's emergence as a manufacturer of electric vehicles and other emerging technologies has suddenly made it more of a financial and geopolitical threat for those same industries based in the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea. 'Some enterprises, especially manufacturing enterprises, feel more deeply that China's manufacturing capabilities are too strong, and Chinese people are too hardworking. Factories run 24 hours a day,' Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Thursday when hosting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing. 'Some people think this will cause some new problems in the balance of supply and demand in world production.' 'We see this problem too,' Li said. Bessent also said the Stockholm talks could address Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil. However, Wildau of Teneo said China could demand some U.S. security concessions in exchange, such as a reduced U.S. military presence in East Asia and scaled-back diplomatic support for Taiwan and the Philippines. This would likely face political pushback in Washington. The Stockholm talks will be 'geared towards building a trade agreement based around Chinese purchase commitments and pledges of investment in the U.S. in exchange for partial relief from U.S. tariffs and export controls,' Wildau said. He doubts there will be a grand deal. Instead, he predicts 'a more limited agreement based around fentanyl.' 'That,' he said, 'is probably the preferred outcome for China hawks in the Trump administration, who worry that an overeager Trump might offer too much to Xi.'
