Trump imposed a sweeping regime of eye-watering taxes on imports to the US last year under an emergency powers law – including tariffs levied on almost every country in the world – and now the Supreme Court has ruled he wasn’t allowed to
Donald Trump’s insane tariffs have been ruled illegal by the US Supreme Court in a huge blow for his presidency.
Trump imposed a sweeping regime of eye-watering taxes on imports to the US last year under an emergency powers law – including tariffs levied on almost every country in the world.
It’s the first time a central plank of Trump’s agenda has come before the Supreme Court – which he packed with conservatives during his first term.
Trump has been vocal about the case, calling it one of the most important in US history and saying a ruling against him would potentially bankrupt the United States and “literally destroy” the country.
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He wrote on Truth Social in January: “If the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!”
And if forced to repay the tariffs that have already been charged, Trump warned in November, it could cost the US Treasury “in excess of $3 trillion”.
“That would truly become an insurmountable National Security Event, and devastating to the future of our Country,” he said. “Possibly non-sustainable!”
The tariffs decision doesn’t stop Trump from imposing duties under other laws – but it will clamp down on the speed and severity of the tariffs he’s allowed to impose. The administration will almost certainly try and find loopholes to prevent them having to pay back the levies. The Constitution gives Congress the power to levy tariffs.
But the Trump administration argued that a 1977 law allowing the president to regulate importation during emergencies also allows him to set tariffs. Other presidents have used the law dozens of times, often to impose sanctions, but Trump was the first president to invoke it for import taxes.
Trump set what he called “reciprocal” tariffs on most countries in April 2025 to address trade deficits that he declared a national emergency. Those came after he imposed duties on Canada, China and Mexico, ostensibly to address a drug trafficking emergency.
A series of lawsuits followed, including a case from a dozen largely Democratic-leaning states and others from small businesses selling everything from plumbing supplies to educational toys to women’s cycling apparel.
The challengers argued the emergency powers law doesn’t even mention tariffs and Trump’s use of it fails several legal tests, including one that doomed then-President Joe Biden’s $500 billion student loan forgiveness program.
The economic impact of Trump’s tariffs has been estimated at some $3 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Treasury has collected more than $133 billion from the import taxes the president has imposed under the emergency powers law, federal data from December shows. Many companies, including the big-box warehouse chain Costco, have already lined up in court to demand refunds.
And Trump has based huge parts of his economic and spending policies on the assumption that billions of dollars will be coming into the country through tariffs.