US Supreme Court Rules Trump's "Reciprocal" Tariffs Unconstitutional

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- The US Supreme Court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump's use of emergency powers to hit nearly all of America's trading partners with so-called reciprocal tariffs is unconstitutional, Kyodo News reported.

The decision is a major blow to Trump, who last year invoked a 1970s-era emergency law to swiftly impose higher tariffs without congressional approval, although taxation is an enumerated power of the legislative branch.

Upholding lower court findings, the highest court ruled that Trump overstepped his presidential powers when he used the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose the sweeping global tariffs, as well as fentanyl-related duties he applied to goods from China, Canada and Mexico.

During oral arguments in early November, a majority of the court's nine justices already appeared skeptical of Trump's authority to bypass Congress in imposing the double-digit tariffs on imports from nearly all countries.

The final judgment will likely have profound implications for his economic and foreign policy objectives, as well as for governments and businesses worldwide.

Tariffs are the centerpiece of Trump's "America First" agenda. He has argued they will revitalise US manufacturing, create jobs, reduce the country's debt, raise tax revenue and equip the United States with more negotiating leverage to extract concessions from other countries.

In the early months of last year, the Trump administration introduced the tariffs on goods from China, Canada and Mexico, accusing the top three US trading partners of not doing enough to stem the flood of deadly fentanyl coming into the United States.

In early April, Trump announced "Liberation Day" tariffs, which consist of a 10 per cent universal tariff, plus varying additional duties on dozens of countries with which the United States runs significant trade deficits.

The emergency law, known as IEEPA, stipulates that it can be exercised "to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy."

No president had previously used the law to impose tariffs, with countless US and foreign companies suing the Trump administration to challenge the legality of the IEEPA-based measures and to ensure they receive refunds should the Supreme Court invalidate them.

Senior Trump administration officials had suggested they would resort to alternative legislation to reimpose those tariffs in the event of the top court ruling against the president.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO