WASHINGTON.- The president of United States, Donald Trumpdescribed as “deeply disappointing” and “terrible decision” he Supreme Court rulingwhich declared that the president exceeded the emergency powers invoked to impose a large part of his tariffs on the country’s trading partners.
“This was an important case for me, more as a symbol of economic and national security,” Trump said this Friday in a impromptu appearance before the press hours after learning of the decision of a clear majority of the Supreme Court (6-3), in one of the biggest setbacks for the Republican’s agenda in his second term.
He warned that in his “opinion, the court has been influenced by foreign interests and by a political movement that is much smaller than people might imagine.”
The Supreme Court ruling establishes that the US government does not have inherent peacetime powers to impose tariffs based on International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 invoked by Trump as a pillar of his trade war.
According to the president, the countries that “have been scamming” the United States “for years are euphoric” after the ruling, which could mean the reimbursement of some 240 billion collected by Washington for the so-called “reciprocal taxes” announced in April 2025, among other measures.
“The ruling of the Supreme Court on the tariffs is deeply disappointing. “I am ashamed of the attitude of certain members of the Court, I am absolutely ashamed that they do not have the courage to do what is right for our country,” the president said from the White House.
The Republican thanked the dissenting judges, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas y Brett Kavanaughthe most conservative magistrates of the 9 that make up the Supreme Court, for “their strength, wisdom and love” for their country. “When reading the dissenting opinions, no one can argue against it,” he added.
He also insisted that they have “very powerful alternatives” to the IEEPA to impose tariffs on the country’s trading partners.
“The good news is that there are methods, practices, laws and powers, recognized by the entire Court in this terrible decision, and also recognized by Congress, to which they refer, that are even more powerful than the IEEPA tariffs,” he said.
US Supreme Court stops Trump’s tariffs
In its ruling today, the Supreme Court considers that the use of this legislation by Trump would imply an excessively broad delegation of the tax power that the Constitution reserves to Congress, since the High Court considers that tariffs are a type of tax on citizens.
Among the tariffs affected by this ruling are the 10% global base tariff on foreign imports and the so-called “reciprocal” levies on the trading partners of the world’s largest economy, along with additional 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada to pressure these countries to stop the flow of drugs such as fentanyl across their borders into the United States.
Under the IEEPA umbrella, Trump ordered the suspension of the tariff exemption that had governed for almost a century on ‘de minimis’ shipments of low-value goods, with serious repercussions for electronic commerce.
Also included are the Republican’s decisions to increase tariffs on Brazil and India by up to 50% in retaliation for the prosecution of his ally, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, and the purchase of Russian crude oil, respectively.
READ: Trump’s tariffs are illegal, declares the US Supreme Court.
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