On 2 April 2025, President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on most countries around the globe as part of “Liberation Day” but is the president allowed to impose tariffs like that? This is the question the US Supreme Court is considering at the moment.

What were the arguments for and against the presidential power to unilaterally tariff? How are the justices likely to decide? How could their decision impact one of the president’s signature policies?

To consider these questions, we invited ABC’s Planet America Co-Host Chas Licciardello back on the podcast with Director of Impact and Engagement Mari Koeck to take a deep dive into the Supreme Court tariffs case.

If you like a deep dive on Supreme Court issues, you may want to listen to these other episodes with Chas:

• Deep dive into Trump’s Supreme Court immunity hearing with Chas Licciardello
• Trump’s immune. It is so ordered – featuring Chas Licciardello

Check out PEP with Chas and Dr Dave here:

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple

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Produced by: Elliott Brennan

Music by Dan Phillipson, licensed through PremiumBeat

As China’s rapid military modernisation reshapes the regional security landscape, deterrence has become the cornerstone of US and allied strategies in the Indo-Pacific. Former US Marine Corps Commandant General David Berger (ret’d) joined the USSC Briefing Room, reflecting on the bold reforms that transformed the Marine Corps and the growing importance of interoperability with allies like Australia for deterrence.

How do these changes strengthen deterrence? What role does cultural understanding play in preventing conflict? And what does the future hold for US readiness in a contested region?

Recently, a gunman killed four people and wounded eight at a Latter Day Saints (or Mormon) church in Michigan. President Trump described this as “yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America” – but there are distinct differences between this and other high-profile shootings.

How was this similar to or different from other attacks on religious institutions in America? What are the motivations behind these attacks? Is there a throughline between the assassination of Charlie Kirk and an attack on an LDS church in Michigan?

Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy at the United States Studies Centre David Smith joined the podcast to discuss these questions. He is one of Australia’s leading experts on religious persecution in America and is the author of Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States.

Related content:

• The Michigan church shooting sits within a long history of hatred against Mormons in America
• USSC Briefing Room | Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States