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US President Donald Trump
The decision concerns the so-called “reciprocal tariffs” applied in April 2025 to most countries, as well as other rates decreed based on a 1977 law. Donald Trump reacted by announcing that he will impose a new global tariff of 10%.
The United States Supreme Court ruled this Friday that the president Donald Trump exceeded his authority by imposing a series of tariffs that harmed global trade, a hard blow for the North American head of state, which forced him to rethink his economic and political agenda.
In reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump announced this Friday that he will impose a new global tariff of 10%and accused the country’s Supreme Court of having given in to “foreign influences“.
In a press conference, the president described the Supreme Court’s decision as “deeply disappointing“, stating that the judges who voted in favor of annulling the tariffs, two of which were named by himself Trumpthey were “unpatriotic and disloyal” to the North American Constitution.
The US Supreme Court decision focuses on so-called “” applied in April 2025 to most countriesas well as other fees decreed based on a 1977 law which allows the President to regulate imports in situations of national emergency.
“” has been a fundamental instrument of Donald Trump’s foreign policy, who adopted the motto “America first“, notes the AFP agency.
O Supreme Court, conservative majority, decided by 6 votes against 3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) used by Trump “does not authorize the president to impose tariffs“.
Three conservative justices (Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito) voted against the decision, while John Roberts, (appointed by George W. Bush), Neil Gorsuch e Amy Coney Barrettappointed by Trump, voted in favor, alongside the three Democratic judges.
The decision concerns customs tariffs presented as “reciprocal” by Donald Trump, but not those applied to specific sectors such as automobiles, steel or aluminum.
Trump had already started using tariffs during his first term, between 2017 and 2021, but upon returning to power in January 2025 he immediately announced that would resort to IEEPA to impose new taxes to practically allcommercial partners in the United States.
In addition to taxes for commercial reasons, the head of state enacted special customs tariffs for important partners such as Mexico, Canada and China, due to “illicit drug flows” and immigration.
Trump also used IEEPA to pressure countries in conflictboasting of having achievedresolve eight long-running international conflicts in 2025, for example between Thailand and Cambodia, thanks to the threat of tariffs.
But the Supreme Court recalled this Friday that “if Congress had intended to confer the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs” through IEEPA, “would have done so explicitlyas has been done systematically in other tariff statutes”.
The New York Stock Exchange, which had opened lower this Friday, rose after the Court’s announcement: the Dow Jones index gained 0.3% and the Nasdaq, 1.0%.
In addition to the decision, a negative economic result for the country was also announced: the growth in 2025 was 2.2%compared to 2.8% in the previous year.
The decision of the Federal Supreme Court confirms previous sentences from lower courts that the tariffs Trump imposed based on IEEPA were illegal.
A first instance trade court had ruled, in May, that Trump, by imposing widespread tariffs, had prevented most of them from coming into force — although that result had been suspended following the appeal to the Supreme Court filed by the Government.
The Supreme Court’s opinion leaves open the question of huge tariff revenues that the Government obtained, however, over the past year. Experts estimate that around 140 billion dollars are at stake.
The judges also did not rule on the extent to which importers who sued the Trump Administration may receive refunds.
A European Union declared that it is “carefully” analyzing the decisionand the Canadian Chamber of Commerce classified it as a “readjustment”.
