U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Trump's Global Tariffs

(MENAFN) The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a sweeping rebuke of President Donald Trump's trade policy Friday, ruling 6-3 that his broad tariffs imposed under emergency law are unconstitutional — a decision with far-reaching consequences for global trade, corporate supply chains, inflation, and the finances of ordinary Americans.

The court declared that Trump's tariff regime under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) exceeds presidential authority, formally invalidating the global tariffs he introduced beginning in April. The justices affirmed that the power to impose taxes belongs to Congress, not the executive branch.

Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, holding that the president must "point to clear congressional authorization" to justify his extraordinary assertion of the power to impose tariffs. The court found that the Trump administration's reading of IEEPA would intrude on congressional powers and violate the "'major questions' doctrine," which requires actions of "vast 'economic and political significance'" by the executive branch to be clearly authorized by Congress.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

The ruling traces back to Trump's April 2 announcement establishing a "minimum baseline tariff" of 10 percent on nearly all imported goods, with steeper rates levied against select trading partners, which he argued would generate government revenue and reinvigorate domestic manufacturing. On April 23, a coalition of 12 U.S. states filed suit against the administration in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, challenging the levies as illegal. A federal appeals court upheld that challenge on August 29, prompting the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court in September.

The decision leaves unresolved a critical financial question: whether importers who paid tariffs at the higher rates will be entitled to refunds. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported collecting more than 200 billion dollars between January 20 and December 15, 2025. Of that total, the Trump administration said approximately 129 billion dollars was attributable specifically to IEEPA-based tariffs as of December 10.

The human cost of those collections was underscored by a report released last week from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which — drawing on U.S. Census Bureau data through November 2025 — found that U.S. consumers and businesses absorbed nearly 90 percent of the tariff burden themselves.

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