SCOTUS tariff decision could mean years of litigation over refunds
Trump said he would impose new 10% tariffs worldwide after the Supreme Court overturned President Donald Trump’s authority to impose emergency tariffs.
President Donald Trump on February 21 stepped up his efforts to raise tariffs without support from the Supreme Court, announcing that he would increase tariffs from 10% worldwide to 15%, which he had announced after the nation’s highest court ruled against him.
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump wrote, “Following a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extremely un-American tariff decision handed down yesterday by the United States Supreme Court after months of deliberation, global tariffs will be increased to 15%, effective immediately.”
The move comes after President Trump slammed the Supreme Court on February 20 over his “deeply disappointing” decision to overturn emergency tariffs imposed on countries around the world.
At a press conference after the ruling, President Trump said he was “ashamed” that some Supreme Court justices “didn’t have the courage to do what was right for our country.”
“I think their decision was a terrible one,” he said. “If you want to know the truth, I think it’s a shame for their families.”
The court struck down the tariffs by a 6-3 majority that included two Trump-appointed judges, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. It was the first time in Trump’s second term that a conservative-dominated court ruled against the president’s full use of power.
The case came to the Supreme Court after a small business association representing more than a dozen states with Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing the president of unfairly expanding its “regulatory” powers and imposing taxes illegally.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion that while “the President asserts extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs without limits on amount, duration, or scope,” he was “unable to identify a clear Congressional authority to do so.”
Contributed by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswami
