Tariff blow for US president
The Supreme Court of the US has ruled that the tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on trading partners around the world are illegal.
In a ruling on February 20, the court said President Trump had gone too far in imposing tariffs without a clear authorisation from the US Congress. On announcing sweeping tariffs on countries in all parts of the world in April 2025, the president said it was in keeping with a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
He argued that there was an emergency because, for decades, the US had been “looted by nations near and far”, leading to a loss of jobs and the demise of manufacturing there. But the Supreme Court said that if Congress had intended the power to impose tariffs to be part of the 1977 act, “it would have done so expressly”.
Immediately, trading partners around the world began asking if they might, now, be entitled to ask the US government to pay back the money they have paid since April in additional tariffs on exports to the US. The Supreme Court ruling did not address this.
President Trump did not take the news well. He said countries that have been “ripping us off for years are ecstatic”. He added that people in those countries were so happy about the Supreme Court decision, they were “dancing in the streets”.
He went on to say that he would impose a 10% global tariff, over and above tariffs already in place before April 2025.
