Trump Announces Alternative Tariff Plan After Supreme Court Ruling
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell /
President Donald Trump said the Supreme Court ruling against his tariffs actually affirms his authority to levy additional national security tariffs, and announced a 10% global tariff on Friday.
In a 6-3 decision Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump did not have legal authority to impose his tariffs in Canada, Mexico, and China.
Trump had cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to declare emergencies in imposing his tariffs on the three countries. The court ruled on Friday that the law “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
In a briefing at the White House following the ruling, Trump praised Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who authored the dissenting opinion, for saying that the majority opinion might not substantially constrain a president’s ability to order future tariffs.
“A president can actually charge more tariffs than I was charging in the past period of a year under the various tariffs authorities,” Trump said. “So we can use other of the statutes, other of the tariff authorities, which have also been confirmed and are fully allowed.”
“Therefore, effective immediately, all national security tariffs under Section 232, and existing Section 301 tariffs, will remain in place, fully in place, and in full force and effect,” he said.
Trump said he will sign an executive order Friday to impose a 10% global tariff under Section 122. The statute grants authority to impose temporary tariffs for certain reasons such as trade imbalances.
“The Supreme Court did not overrule tariffs,” Trump said. “They merely overruled a particular use of IEEPA tariffs, and essentially it’s a use to get a fee.”
Trump said he has alternative options that will bring in more revenue.
“I’m going to go in a different direction,” he said. “Probably the direction that I should have gone the first time, but I read the language, I’m very good at reading language, and it read our way 100%. But now I’ll go the way I could have gone, originally, which is even stronger than our original choice.”
Trump said the conservative justices who voted against him are “an embarrassment to their families.” Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett—both Trump appointees—joined the chief justice and the court’s three liberal justices in the majority.
“I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed, for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” he said.