A toymaker who got tariffed

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Today, Explained 29 min 8 speakers 5 chapters transcribed
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What did the Supreme Court rule about President Trump's tariffs?

Ariana Aspuru 0:01
Late last week, the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump's tariffs are unconstitutional. Court said when he implemented them, he exceeded his authority. Last night, in his State of the Union, the president had a chance to defend himself.
Donald Trump 0:14
One of the primary reasons for our country's stunning economic turnaround, the biggest in history where the Dow Jones broke 50,000 four years ahead of schedule. The Dow, the Dow right now. And the S&P hit 7,000, where it wasn't supposed to do it for many years, were tariffs. I used these tariffs, took in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for our country, both economically and on a national security basis. Everything was working well.
Ariana Aspuru 0:48
Everything wasn't working well, but USA did learn some important lessons from the tariffs. And the story of those and of some of the people who took Trump to court and won is coming up on Today Explained.
Unknown 1:03
You don't normally tune into a late night TV show expecting a rigorous debate about free speech, but somehow this is the world we live in. This week on The Verge Cast, we're talking about how FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has turned his agency into the speech police and why it's falling to people like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel to fight back. That plus the gadgets we are and maybe aren't getting from Apple and others this year and the latest in the chatbot wars. On The Verge Cast, wherever you get podcasts.
Ben Harris 1:35
I got in the water in the very early morning before the sun had risen, and the water was pitch black. I started swimming, and I felt the water hollowing out around me and felt like something really big was swimming below.
Phoebe Judge 1:50
I'm Phoebe Judge, and this is Love, a show about the surprising things that love can make us do. More than 100 episodes, available now on This Is Love.
Noel King 2:07
This is Today Explained.
Ariana Aspuru 2:15
Steven Woldenberg is the Senior Vice President of Sales at Learning Resources, a family company.
Steven Woldenberg 2:22
Learning Resources was founded by my grandmother in 1984. We make educational toys.
SPEAKER_00 2:29
Jack has five big dinosaurs. He can make them move.
Steven Woldenberg 2:33
So we serve the markets ranging from the preschool market to schools. We also actually make pet toys too. Thank you, Spot. Most of our products are manufactured overseas. So we make products in China, Vietnam, India, Taiwan, Korea, as well as a small amount of products here in the United States. We make hands-on learning products. So they range from anything from early childhood products to help children master their fine motor, gross motor skills. to imaginative play products like our pretend and play cash register.
SPEAKER_00 3:07
My cash register is a calculator.
Steven Woldenberg 3:10
To products that inspire a love of learning of STEM.
SPEAKER_00 3:13
This microscope shows so many details.
Steven Woldenberg 3:16
Science to coding robots.
SPEAKER_00 3:19
Make coding magic with magic coders.
Steven Woldenberg 3:24
And of course, teacher and classroom resources as well.
Ariana Aspuru 3:29
Tell me about your grandma who started this business. That's cool.
Steven Woldenberg 3:31
Yeah. So she started the business in 1984. Definitely did not consider this or expect it to be a full-time job. So she hired her tennis partner to help her answer the phones. And one thing led to another. And over time, the business expanded. So it really grew up in the education and school markets. And over time, we found that our products were being used as toys. And we went into toy shops and saw that our products were on shelf there. And Lo and behold, here we are today selling to mass market retailers and one of the leading brands in educational toys in the country.
Ariana Aspuru 4:04
All right. So the reason that you and I are talking today is that you and your family, on behalf of the company, sued the Trump administration over the tariffs.
Steven Woldenberg 4:12
Yes. We sued the administration over tariffs because we did not think that IEPA, IEPA is the International Emergency Economics Powers Act, provided for tariffs. And so we wanted to challenge it in court. And ultimately, the case made it all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump 4:31
We will hear argument this morning in case 24-12-87, learning resources versus Trump. and the consolidated case.
Steven Woldenberg 4:39
On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed with our position and ruled in our favor.

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