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President Donald Trump has warned that the United States will be rendered “defenseless” and possibly “reduced to almost Third World status” if the Supreme Court strikes down the tariffs he imposed this year on nearly every country on earth.The justices sounded skeptical during oral arguments Wednesday of his sweeping claims of authority to impose tariffs as he sees fit.The truth, though, is that Trump will still have plenty of options to keep taxing imports aggressively even if the court rules against him. He can re-use tariff powers he deployed in his first term and can reach for others, including one that dates back to the Great Depression. “It’s hard to see any pathway here where tariffs end,” said Georgetown trade law professor Kathleen Claussen. “I am pretty convinced he could rebuild the tariff landscape he has now using other authorities.”At Wednesday’s hearing, in fact, lawyer Neal Katyal, representing small businesses suing to get the tariffs struck down, argued that Trump didn’t need the boundless authority he’s claimed to impose tariffs under 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). That is because Congress delegated tariff power to the White House in several other statutes though it carefully limited the ways the president could use the authority.“Congress knows exactly how to delegate its tariff powers,” Katyal said.Tariffs have become a cornerstone of Trump’s foreign policy in his second term, with double-digit “reciprocal” tariffs imposed on most countries, which he has justified by declaring America’s longstanding trade deficits a national emergency.The average U.S. tariff has gone from 2.5% when Trump returned to the White House in January to 17.9%, the highest since 1934, according to calculations by Yale University’s Budget Lab.The president acted alone even though the U.S. Constitution specifically gives the power to tax and impose tariffs to Congress.Still, Trump “will have other tools that can cause pain,” said Stratos Pahis of Brooklyn Law School. Here’s a look at some of his options: Countering unfair trade practices The United States has long had a handy cudgel to wallop countries it accuses of engaging in “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable” or “discriminatory” trade practices. That is Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.And Trump has made aggressive use of it himself especially against China. In his first term, he cited Section 301 to impose sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports in a dispute over the sharp-elbowed tactics that Beijing was using to challenge America’s technological dominance. The U.S. is also using 301 powers to counter what it calls unfair Chinese practices in the shipbuilding industry.“You’ve had Section 301 tariffs in place against China for years,” said Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a trade official in Trump’s first administration and in Biden’s.There are no limits on the size of Section 301 tariffs. They expire after four years but can be extended.But the administration’s trade representative must conduct an investigation and typically hold a public hearing before imposing 301 tariffs.John Veroneau, general counsel for the U.S. trade representative in the George W. Bush administration, said Section 301 is useful in taking on China. But it has drawbacks when it comes to dealing with the smaller countries that Trump has hammered with reciprocal tariffs.“Undertaking dozens and dozens of 301 investigations of all of those countries is a laborious process,” Veroneau said. Targeting trade deficits In striking down Trump’s reciprocal tariffs in May, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the president couldn’t use emergency powers to combat trade deficits.That is partly because Congress had specifically given the White House limited authority to address the problem in another statute: Section 122, also of the Trade Act of 1974. That allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15% for up to 150 days in response to unbalanced trade. The administration doesn’t even have to conduct an investigation beforehand.But Section 122 authority has never been used to apply tariffs, and there is some uncertainty about how it would work. Protecting national security In both of his terms, Trump has made aggressive use of his power under Section 232 of Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to impose tariffs on imports that he deems a threat to national security.In 2018, he slapped tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum, levies he’s expanded since returning to the White House. He also plastered Section 232 tariffs on autos, auto parts, copper, lumber.In September, the president even levied Section 232 tariffs on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture. “Even though people might roll their eyes” at the notion that imported furniture poses a threat to national security, Veroneau said, “it’s difficult to get courts to second-guess a determination by a president on a national security matter.”Section 232 tariffs are not limited by law but do require an investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department. It’s the administration itself that does the investigating also true for Section 301 cases “so they have a lot of control over the outcome,” Veroneau said. Reviving Depression-era tariffs Nearly a century ago, with the U.S. and world economies in collapse, Congress passed the Tariff Act of 1930, imposing hefty taxes on imports. Known as the Smoot-Hawley tariffs (for their congressional sponsors), these levies have been widely condemned by economists and historians for limiting world commerce and making the Great Depression worse. They also got a memorable pop culture shoutout in the 1986 movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”Section 338 of the law authorizes the president to impose tariffs of up to 50% on imports from countries that have discriminated against U.S. businesses. No investigation is required, and there’s no limit on how long the tariffs can stay in place.Those tariffs have never been imposed U.S. trade negotiators traditionally have favored Section 301 sanctions instead though the United States used the threat of them as a bargaining chip in trade talks in the 1930s.In September, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters that the administration was considering Section 338 as a Plan B if the Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s use of emergency powers tariffs.The Smoot-Hawley legislation has a bad reputation, Veroneau said, but Trump might find it appealing. “To be the first president to ever use it could have some cache.” Associated Press Staff Writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story. Paul Wiseman, AP Economics Writer
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E-Commerce
Shares in language learning platform Duolingo, Inc. (Nasdaq: DUOL) are plummeting this morning. As of this writing, the stock is down a staggering 25% in premarket trading. That cliff edge comes after the company reported strong Q3 numbers yesterday. So whats the reason for todays fall? Heres what you need to know. Duolingo reports a strong Q3 2025 By nearly every metric, Duolingo had a strong third quarter, which ended on September 30, 2025. Here are the key metrics the company reported for its Q3: Daily Active Users: 50.5 million (up 36% year over year) Monthly Active Users: 135.3 million (up 20% YOY) Paid Subscribers: 11.5 million (up 34% YOY) Revenue: $271.7 million (up 41% YOY) Adjusted earnings per share (EPS): $5.95 Total Bookings: $281.9 million (up 33% YOY) As you can see, Duolingos results are nothing to sneeze at. There are plenty of companies today that would love to report 36% daily active user growth or an increase in revenue of 41%. Yet still, DUOL stock is in free fall this morning. The reason for this is one of the key metrics that Duolingo reports: total bookings. Duolingos total bookings forecast disappoints The Duolingo metric that investors pay heavy attention to is what the company calls total bookings. Total bookings is the catch-all term that Duolingo uses to encapsulate all of its revenue streams. It includes not just current revenues, but future revenues that the company has commitments for. This mainly includes subscription revenue. A customer may sign up for an annual subscription, but may only be billed for it in increments, which means Duolingo doesnt have that revenue in its bank account yet, but it’s coming in the future. We believe bookings provide an indication of trends in our operating results, including cash flows, that are not necessarily reflected in our revenues because we recognize subscription revenues ratably over the lifetime of a subscription, the majority of which are twelve months in duration, the company notes in its Q3 shareholder letter. Total bookings include subscription bookings, income from advertising networks for advertisements served to our users, purchases of the Duolingo English Test, and in-app purchases of virtual goods, the company says. Because of the importance of the total bookings metric, investors like to hear Duolingo forecast acceptable total bookings growth quarter after quarter. And for the past five quarters, the total bookings growth has ranged between 33% (in Q3 2025) and 42% (in Q4 2024). But for Q4 2025, which ends on December 31, Duolingo says it expects total bookings growth to be only 21.3% to 23.5% (about $329.5 million to $335.5 million). That is well below what Wall Street had expected, as Reuters reports. So what is the reason for the slowdown in total bookings? In Duolingos Q3 shareholder letter, CEO Luis von Ahn said the company was pivoting to improve the platforms teaching quality and grow its user base. This will come at an expense to monetization, which will affect that all-important total bookings metric. In particular, were investing proportionally more in teaching better, and were prioritizing user growth over monetization in the A/B tests that get launched, von Ahn said, adding, Were doing this now because we want to keep growing users for a long time, and because of our increasing conviction that AI can fundamentally change whats possible in how we teach.” This decision reflects one of Duolingos operating principles, which the company calls take the long view. It believes that by improving the quality of its product and acquiring more users, those moves will help bring in the things investors care most about: increased revenue from increased total bookings. Duolingo’s 2025 stock slide Whether or not Duolingos long view pays off remains to be seen. But the companys 25% premarket price drop this morning shows investors arent too happy with what’s been happening. This morning’s price drop compounds an already bad year for Duolingo as far as its share price is concerned. As of yesterdays close, before today’s 25% plummet, DUOL shares were already trading down nearly 20% for the year. The companys share price started at around $325 before rising to an all-time high of over $544 in May. But since then, shares have fallen steadily, particularly after the company faced a brand crisis after announcing an AI-first strategy that shifted the content creation from humans to artificial intelligence. As of the time of this writing in premarket trading, DUOL shares are currently trading below $200 apiecea price not seen since August 2024.
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E-Commerce
European shares opened lower on Thursday after a broad advance in Asia spurred by a rebound on Wall Street.Upbeat economic updates and a steady flow of quarterly reports from U.S. companies have helped counter worries over surging share prices for Big Tech companies.But that optimism failed to carry over from Asia to Europe.Germany’s DAX lost 0.2% to 24,003.24, while the CAC 40 in Paris declined 0.5% to 8,033.11. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% to 9,761.18.The future for the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%.In Asia, shares bounced back from a retreat the day before.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.3% to 50,883.68.Shares in Nissan Motor Co. fell 1.7% after the company said it was selling its headquarters building in Yokohama to raise cash.After trading closed, Nissan reported a 221.9 billion yen ($1.4 billion) loss for April-September and said its revenue dropped 7% from a year earlier.In South Korea, the Kospi advanced 0.6% to 4,026.45. Taiwan’s Taiex was up 0.7%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.1% to 26,485.90, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.1% to 4,007.76.However, shares in autonomous driving companies Pony.ai and WeRide fell in their debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange.Pony.ai lost 9.3%, while WeRide’s shares fell 10%.Shares in Cathay Pacific Airways gained 4% after it announced that Qatar Airways was selling its 9.57% stake in the Hong Kong-based carrier in a buyback worth $896 million. The deal is subject to shareholder approval.On Wednesday, U.S. stocks gained ground with broad gains, reversing the prior day’s dip. Much of the market’s push and pull came from the technology sector, where several companies with huge values have an outsized influence over the market.Google’s parent, Alphabet, jumped 2.4%, Broadcom rose 2%, and Facebook parent Meta Platforms rose 1.4%. They helped lead the way higher for the broader market. Their gains also helped counter losses from a few technology behemoths, including Nvidia and Microsoft.Overall The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Dow industrials picked up 0.5% to 47,311. The Nasdaq composite added 0.6%.Company earnings and forecasts were once again a big focus for Wall Street, with results coming from a broad spectrum of industries.The latest round of earnings offers Wall Street a source of information on consumers, businesses and the economy that is otherwise lacking amid the government shutdown. Important monthly updates on inflation and employment have ceased, leaving investors, economists and the Federal Reserve without a fuller picture of the economy.There are still several informative private economic updates that Wall Street can review.A monthly report from ADP showed that private payrolls rose more than expected in October. The report offers a partial glimpse into the job market, which has been generally weakening and raising broader concerns about economic growth.A weaker job market remains a big concern for the Fed. The central bank cut its benchmark rate for the second time this year at its most recent meeting, in part to help bolster the economy amid a weakening job market. Lower interest rates can make a wide range of loans and credit less expensive, potentially promoting economic growth. But, lower rates can also add fuel to inflation, which could stunt economic growth.In other dealings early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude gained 26 cents to $59.86 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, advanced 25 cents to $63.77 per barrel.The U.S. dollar fell to 153.85 Japanese yen from 154.11 yen. The euro rose to $1.1510 from $1.1494. Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
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