VERNON HILLS, Ill. (WGN) — A family-owned toy company in Vernon Hills will go up against the White House at the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday in a major case over whether President Donald Trump’s tariffs were imposed legally.
Learning Resources Inc., which has been selling educational toys for 100 years, says the business climate has never been as unpredictable or expensive.
The company’s troubles began when Trump imposed tariffs beginning in February and again in April through an executive order under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Trump argued the tariffs were necessary because trade deficits with foreign partners posed a national security threat. He also promoted tariffs as a way to bring manufacturing back to the United States and secure more favorable trade deals.
Learning Resources argues the president unlawfully used emergency powers to impose tariffs without congressional approval.
Vice President Elana Ruffman said the impact has been severe.
“So, not only has the tax bill increased from $2 million last year to north of $14 million this year, but on top of that, we have just no abilities to do long-term planning,” Ruffman said.
Ruffman, part of the fourth generation running the company, explained how the tariffs are being paid.
“We pay it. A tariff is paid when a product arrives on U.S. soil, and we take possession of our products overseas. Any of our products that are manufactured overseas, we own them before they come on U.S. soil, so we are responsible for paying the tariffs,” she said. “It is us who is paying the money, not a foreign country.”
Ruffman traveled to Washington, D.C. for Wednesday’s arguments. Learning Resources is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, which argues that tariffs under IEEPA are not legal without congress’ involvement.
“We’re certainly not taking a position that we’re against tariffs. Our position is that within IEEPA, tariffs are not legal, so there is nothing within IEEPA that allows for tariffs. They could pass tariff laws by going through congress,” Ruffman said.
Ruffman says the company employs about 500 people and has not had to lay off workers, but doing business under uncertainty has been extremely challenging.
“As far as how this impacts our company, I mean it’s tremendously disruptive,” Ruffman said. “We estimate that about 30% of our employees have been working on moving our products from one country to another since this started. Those are people who had full-time jobs before this, and they had to put that work on hold to figure out how we can manufacture our products with all the changes going on.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says if the administration does lose the case, there are other options that could be implemented, nonetheless.
It will likely take a few months for the court to come to a ruling.
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