US Supreme Court rules Donald Trump’s global tariffs are illegal
Washington: US Supreme Court rules Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs are illegal, It upends the president’s signature economic initiative, opens the door to billions of dollars in refunds and creates, in Trump’s words, “a complete mess.”
The 6-3 majority decision was handed down Friday morning (Washington time) and found that Trump had exceeded his powers as president. The majority noted that the framers of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress alone the authority to impose tariffs in peacetime.
“When Congress delegated tariff powers, it did so expressly and subject to strict limitations,” the majority ruled.
“In an environment of open and limited delegations, the government reads: [the emergency powers laws] Giving the President the power to unilaterally impose unlimited tariffs and change them at will. This view would represent a transformative expansion of the president’s authority over tariff policy.
“He also says [that law’s] “No president in half a century has invoked the law to impose any tariffs, let alone tariffs of this size and scope.”
Australian exports to the US have been hit by a 10 per cent tariff – the lowest rate Trump has imposed on any country – that the Australian government opposes. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at the time that it was “not the act of a friend”.
Trump suggested in a Truth Social post last month that it would take years to figure out how to repay the tariffs if a court finds them illegal. He said countries and companies would demand “reimbursement” of investments they made in the United States to avoid his tariffs.
In his statement last month, Trump said, “When these investments are added, we are talking about trillions of dollars! It would be a complete disgrace, it would be almost impossible for our country to pay.”
“It may not be possible, but if it were, the dollar would be so big that it would take years to figure out what number we were talking about, or even to whom to pay, when and where.”
The administration has previously insisted it could recreate the tariff mosaic using laws other than the one rejected by the Supreme Court.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said meetings are being held to discuss alternative legal paths to reproducing the president’s international tariff agreements and that could begin immediately.
“Our expectation is that we will win, and if we don’t, we know we have other tools to get us to the same place,” Hassett told CNBC television last month.
More to come
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
