The justices have ruled that most of the American president’s earlier tariffs are constitutional
US President Donald Trump has announced a new 10% global tariff after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down most of the earlier measures.
In a 6–3 decision on Friday, the highest court ruled that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give Trump the authority to impose what he described as reciprocal tariffs against almost every country.
Trump responded by vowing to sign an executive order on Friday using another piece of legislation, the Trade Act of 1974, to impose additional tariffs.
“The Supreme Court did not overrule tariffs, they merely overruled a particular use of IEEPA tariffs,” Trump told reporters. “Now I’m going to go in a different direction, probably the direction that I should have gone the first time,” he said.
Trump denounced the “terrible” court ruling, stating that all of his tariffs remain “in full force and effect.” He labeled the judges who ruled against him as “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our constitution.”
After returning to the White House last year, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, and later announced a baseline 10% tariff on many other countries he accused of “ripping off” the US. He has wielded trade as political leverage, threatening to enact additional tariffs against European countries opposing his plan to annex Greenland from Denmark.
The EU has warned that Trump’s tariffs would damage the global economy and ultimately hurt consumers in the US. “The consequences will be dire for millions of people around the globe,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last year.
