Washington, Feb 20: Supreme Court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump cannot use emergency powers to impose broad tariffs on foreign imports. The 6-3 ruling invalidates a massive tax program that has impacted nearly every sector of the American economy over the past year.
The court found that the administration’s reliance on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify the “reciprocal” tariffs was legally flawed. The majority opinion affirmed that the authority to regulate trade through taxation remains a core responsibility of Congress rather than the White House.
“The Framers gave ‘Congress alone’ the power to impose tariffs during peacetime,” Chief Justice John Roberts stated in the opinion. He declared that any extraordinary assertion of such power by a president must be backed by clear congressional authorization, which was absent in this case.
The legal battle reached the high court after a coalition of Democratic-leaning states and various business groups filed suit. They asserted that the administration’s use of a 1977 law—typically used for sanctions—to raise trillions in revenue failed to meet constitutional standards. The Congressional Budget Office had previously estimated the economic impact of the tariffs at roughly 3 trillion dollars over the next decade.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justices Alito and Thomas, dissented from the majority. Kavanaugh affirmed the administration’s position, stating that the law in question provides the president with the flexibility needed to address modern economic emergencies. He noted that while the court does not judge the wisdom of the policy, the text of the law supports the president’s actions.
The ruling comes at a time when the administration has utilized executive orders for a range of policy shifts. While the President declared the case one of the most important in history, legal experts across the spectrum had raised concerns about the expansion of executive authority. Officials stated that while they will comply with the ruling, they are currently evaluating alternative statutes to maintain the existing trade protections.
