Big business sits out the Supreme Court fight over Donald Trump’s tariffs

It’s one of the most significant economic cases to reach the Supreme Court in years – the blockbuster battle over Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs – but the nation’s largest companies are sitting on the sidelines.

The battle to stop Trump’s tariffs is being waged by a group of small businesses – including a family-owned toymaker in Illinois and a New York-based wine importer. They have advanced the case to the nation’s highest court even as their larger and better-known competitors have remained notably silent.

The lack of public input from major US companies on the docket of a Supreme Court appeal with potentially vast consequences for their bottom line and the economy as a whole is unusual and likely based at least in part on a fear of retribution from the White House, multiple people involved with the case and outside experts said.