Readers Write: Tariff ruling, CEO letter on ICE surge, immigrant entrepreneurs

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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It is beyond belief that President Donald Trump not only thinks he is above the law, now that a banner with his likeness hangs over the Department of Justice, a supposedly independent agency of the federal government, but that the Supreme Court justices should allow him to shred the Constitution with his executive orders. Their recent ruling of 6-3 that this administration’s tariff policy using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was unlawful should have been 9-0, since the highest court in the land claims to be upholding the Constitution. Of the three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial), the Supreme Court is where cases regarding alleged unlawful and unconstitutional actions are decided. Three of the GOP-appointed jurists showed their activist position by not voting for the longstanding principles of the document that founded America.

Jan McCarthy, Eden Prairie

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It is well-known that tariffs imposed by the U.S. are essentially a tax that Americans pay. That knowledge is nothing new. What continues to be concerning is the language in common use about tariffs, which tends to minimize and detract from the effect of tariff policy. When Trump and the media talk about tariffs as being placed on other countries, the statements are misleading. The tariffs are not placed on a country, they are placed on the goods we buy from that country.

For example, when General Motors buys parts from China, there is a tariff on the parts that General Motors buys. It may make Trump feel powerful to think in terms of punishing a country, and he may be hurting that country, but the tariff is not on the country, it is on the goods that we buy. Trump is imposing a tax on General Motors’ purchases. General Motors will pay the tariff and then will likely pass that additional cost onto the car buyer.

Thomas Wexler, Edina

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Instead of trying to respond to the daily barrage of distractions that Trump floats (“Trump tariffs illegal,” Feb. 21), let’s stay focused on the barrage of explosives that rains down on Ukrainians every night. And rather than starting another war in Iran, let’s focus on the one already in progress. It might be nice to profit by seizing Venezuelan oil, but blocking some of the Russian oil that is already sanctioned would do more for the cause of peace. We’re looking for solutions, Mr. Trump, not more foreign adventures.

W. Perry Benson, Minneapolis

How enlightening to hear from Kurt Zellers, CEO of the Minnesota Business Partnership and former Republican speaker of the Minnesota House, about the CEO letter (“CEOs weigh risks of activism,” Feb. 21). It seems that creativity is not dead after all. The wordsmithing required to publish this letter was no doubt an epic effort carried out as reported by teams of servant technicians. Getting the correct tone is a difficult job, to be sure, but copying vocabulary from the White House ... absolutely amazing!

George Hutchinson, Minneapolis

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Many people criticized the CEOs for not taking a stronger stand against Immigration and Customs Enforcement abuses, but their call for a cooperative solution actually worked as ICE continues to depart our state. Cooperation between state and federal leaders was a neutral solution that got the job done without risking alienating or dividing the public. Businesses should focus on providing quality products at affordable and fair pricing, providing good jobs and contributing to the needs of the communities they serve. Likewise, faith leaders should attend to the spiritual well-being of their faithful to lead their best lives of service to others. Our job as voters is to vote for the best political force to the benefit of everyone, essentially through well-supported bipartisan legislation.

Businesses and faith leaders have done their jobs; now voters and their political representatives must do theirs.

Michael Tillemans, Minneapolis

The article about the weak and insulting letter CEOs issued during the ICE surge quoted plenty of pro-business supporters who thought they did “enough” and gave significant ink to the difficult process of producing a consensus letter. What the article did not do was explain the outrage tens of thousands of ordinary people felt about the letter and the ineffectiveness of our corporate leaders in response to the siege of our city.

We continue to feel abandoned by the business community. Two people were killed by federal thugs, the rights of thousands of people were violated, hundreds of our neighbors were unlawfully detained and the daily violence from ICE was arbitrary and vicious. Even then, all the CEOs could muster was a call for de-escalation.

When this authoritarian regime is brought to heel and democracy is once again restored, it will be the actions of ordinary people, not cowardly business leaders, that will have saved us. Shame on them. And shame on Target for capitulating to Trump as early as January 2025.

Pam Costain, Minneapolis

With the nonstop mental and emotional assaults we suffer in the news these days, it was a welcome change and pleasure to read in the Minnesota Star Tribune’s pages about one of our own second-generation immigrant citizens, Diane Moua, highlighting her recent appearance on “Good Morning America”! (“Diane’s Place takes star turn on ‘GMA,’” Feb. 21.) Her success as the owner and head chef of Diane’s Place in northeast Minneapolis was a heartwarming story of her early life as the daughter of immigrants, then how she turned into the creator of this amazingly successful eatery. Among other kudos, Diane’s Place was honored by Food & Wine in 2025 as the Best New Restaurant in America!

My hope is that instead of giving our immigrant neighbors the heave-ho as Trump would like, we should instead create more workable legal paths to citizenship and put out a larger welcome mat so these people will want to choose Minnesota as the place to come to better their lives. In the process of helping themselves, they will help Minnesota to grow economically as well. Moua has shown us the possibilities.