Supreme Court Strikes Down Key Trump Tariffs, Citing Overreach of Emergency Powers

The Supreme Court of the United States on Friday dealt a significant setback to Donald Trump, ruling that he exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping tariffs under a federal law intended for national emergencies.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices found that Trump’s broad use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy tariffs on goods entering the United States was not authorized by Congress. The ruling invalidates many of the tariffs enacted under that law, though others imposed through separate statutes remain in place.
Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, joined by the court’s three liberal justices and two conservatives, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
“The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration and scope,” Roberts wrote. However, he noted that the administration “points to no statute” in which Congress has said the language in IEEPA could be used to justify tariffs. “We hold that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs,” he concluded.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Samuel Alito dissented.
The decision marks a rare defeat for the administration at the high court, which holds a 6-3 conservative majority, since Trump began his second term in January.
The ruling leaves intact certain tariffs imposed under other legal authorities, including those on steel and aluminum. However, it overturns two major categories of tariffs implemented under IEEPA.
One category involved so-called “reciprocal” tariffs applied country-by-country, including rates as high as 34% on China and a 10% baseline tariff on goods from much of the rest of the world. The other struck down measure was a 25% tariff on certain goods from Canada, China and Mexico, which the administration justified as a response to those countries’ alleged failure to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States.