Trump announces 10% global tariffs under different statute
Following on from my last post, Donald Trump announced that he would impose 10% global tariffs under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. This lets the president impose tariffs up to 15% for up to 150 days. These levies would, however, require Congress’s approval to extend beyond the deadline.
Trump also said he would use Section 301 to open investigations to “protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies”.
Key events
Donald Trump didn’t say whether he regretted nominating Neil Gorsuch or Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court, after they concurred that the president’s use of IEEPA to justify global tariffs is illegal in today’s ruling.
“I think the decision was terrible,” Trump said. “I think it’s an embarrassment to their families, if you want to know the truth, the two of them.”
Trump says that supreme court justices who ruled against sweeping tariffs are ‘barely’ invited to State of the Union
Donald Trump said today that the six supreme court justices who ruled agains his global tariffs under IEEPA are “barely” invited to next week’s State of the Union address at the US Capitol.
“Honestly, I couldn’t care less if they come,” the president said.
Donald Trump didn’t add any substantial evidence for his claims that justices on the supreme court who ruled against his IEEPA tariffs today are being “swayed by foreign interests”.
He didn’t name specific foreign actors, but claimed they have “undue influence” over some of the jurists.
“Whether it’s through fear or respect or friendships, I don’t know, but I know some of the people that were involved on the other side, and I don’t like them. I think they’re real slime balls,” Trump added.
When asked whether he plans to extend the 10% global tariffs indefinitely, Donald Trump seemed to completely ignore the framework of Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act – which he’s using to implement the duties.
“We have a right to do pretty much what we want to do,” he said, ignoring the statute’s requirement for the administration to receive congressional approval for tariffs beyond 150 days.
On the, perhaps, multibillion question of refunds for tariffs implemented under IEEPA, Trump railed against the fact that the supreme court did not issue a remedy in today’s ruling.
“We’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said. “What happens to all the money that we took in? It wasn’t discussed. Wouldn’t you think they would have put one sentence in there saying that keep the money or don’t keep the money … I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years.”
He called the decision “totally defective”.
Trump also announced that all national security tariffs under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act and existing tariffs under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act remain in place and in full effect.
Trump announces 10% global tariffs under different statute
Following on from my last post, Donald Trump announced that he would impose 10% global tariffs under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. This lets the president impose tariffs up to 15% for up to 150 days. These levies would, however, require Congress’s approval to extend beyond the deadline.
Trump also said he would use Section 301 to open investigations to “protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies”.
Donald Trump insisted that “other alternatives will now be used to replace the ones that the court incorrectly rejected”.
He calls these “great alternatives could be more money”.
A reminder that the court only invalidated the tarriffs implemented under IEEPA, but there are other statutes – as we reported earlier – the president can use to maintain duties on countries.
Trump lambasts liberal justices on supreme court, says they’re being ‘swayed by foreign interests’ without providing evidence
In his remarks today, Trump lambasted the liberal supreme court justices today, as well as those who concurred with the opinion that the use of IEEPA was illegal.
“The Democrats on the court are thrilled,” Trump said. “They’re against anything that makes America strong, healthy and great again. They also are a frankly, disgrace to our nation, those justices.”
He went on to criticize “certain” members of the court, which would include justices he nominated to the bench – such as Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
“They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our constitution,” Trump added. “It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,” he said without citing any evidence for his claims.
Donald Trump says supreme court ruling on tariffs is ‘deeply disappointing’, chides ‘certain members’ of the court
Donald Trump is now speaking to reporters in the White House press briefing room. He kicked off his remarks by saying that the supreme court’s ruling today, invalidating many of his tariffs, was “deeply disappointing”.
He said he was “ashamed of certain members of the court” – namely the six justices who said that the president’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify his global tariffs was illegal.
“I’d like to thank and congratulate justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh for their strength and wisdom and love of our country … very proud of those justices,” he said of the jurists who dissented.
Chuck Grassley – the senator who chairs the influential judiciary committee – noted in a statement today that he was “one of the only sitting members of Congress” during the passage of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Today, the supreme court said that Donald Trump’s use of IEEPA to justify his global tariffs was illegal.
Grassley called Trump “a very skilled negotiator” following the court’s ruling earlier today. “I want him to continue to be successful in expanding market access,” the Iowa lawmaker added. “I urge the Trump administration to keep negotiating, while also working with Congress to secure longer-term enforcement measures.”
Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said that “no one can deny” that Donald Trump’s use of sweeping global tariffs “has brought in billions of dollars and created immense leverage for America’s trade strategy”. The top GOP lawmaker in the House said that Congress and the Trump White House would determine the “best path forward in the coming weeks”.
Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, also welcomed the decision, slamming Trump’s tariffs as “reckless, unconstitutional and costly” and “an abuse of executive power that unlawfully taxed millions of Americans”.
She said on X:
Trump’s sweeping tariffs were reckless, unconstitutional and costly for America’s working families. Today, the Supreme Court rightfully struck them down, upholding the Constitution and rejecting an abuse of executive power that unlawfully taxed millions of Americans. The Court was clear. Tariffs cannot be enacted without the explicit authorization of Congress.
Another Republican senator, Susan Collins, of Maine, has welcomed the supreme court’s ruling. She said on X:
Today’s Supreme Court ruling reaffirms that only Congress has the constitutional authority to impose tariffs, and the President can only do so under a clear and limited delegation of authority from Congress. My votes against the President unilaterally imposing tariffs on Canada reflected the same conclusion as well as my belief that these tariffs often harm Maine’s economy and consumers.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/feb/20/us-iran-nuclear-deal-trump-agreement-strikes-latest-news-live-updates
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