The justices have determined that most of the American president’s previous tariffs are constitutional
Following the Supreme Court of the United States invalidating most of the earlier measures, US President Donald Trump has declared a new 10% global tariff.
In a 6–3 decision on Friday, the highest court ruled that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not grant Trump the power to impose what he termed reciprocal tariffs on nearly every country.
Trump reacted by promising to sign an executive order on Friday utilizing another piece of legislation, the Trade Act of 1974, to levy additional tariffs.
“The Supreme Court did not overturn tariffs; they merely overturned a specific use of IEEPA tariffs,” Trump told reporters. “Now I’m going to take a different path, likely the path I should have taken initially,” he stated.
Trump condemned the “terrible” court ruling, stating that all of his tariffs remain “in full force and effect.” He labeled the judges who voted 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 numerous other countries he accused of “ripping off” the US. He has used trade as political leverage, threatening to impose additional tariffs on European countries opposing his plan to annex Greenland from Denmark.
The EU has cautioned that Trump’s tariffs would harm the global economy and ultimately impact US consumers. “The consequences will be severe for millions of people worldwide,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last year.