Supreme Court Rules White House Lacks Authority for Billions of Dollars in Tariffs

The US Supreme Court on Friday struck down tariffs imposed by President Trump on an array of trading partners, ruling that a law granting the chief executive broad economic powers to address national emergencies doesn’t cover what amount to taxes.

The framers of the Constitution gave Congress sole “access to the pockets of the people,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote on behalf of the six-person majority. The White House didn’t immediately comment on the decision.

While Trump has long maintained that tariffs would benefit the US economy and be paid by trading partners, recent data from the New York Fed show that US consumers and businesses have shouldered nearly 90% of the cost.

Midsized firms, in particular, which largely lack the ability to dictate trade terms or shuffle their supply chains, paid roughly triple the tariff payments they shouldered in 2024, according to research from JPMorgan Chase, the largest US lender. 

“When Congress has delegated its tariff powers, it has done so in explicit terms and subject to strict limits,” Roberts wrote in the court’s opinion. The administration’s interpretation of the law, however, would give “the president power to unilaterally impose unbounded tariffs and change them at will.”

In the half century since the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (the law that the administration relied on for its tariffs) was passed, “no president has invoked the statute to impose any tariffs, let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope,” the high court ruled. “That ‘lack of historical precedent, coupled with the breadth of authority’ that the president now claims, suggests that the tariffs extend beyond the president’s “legitimate reach.”

The 6-3 majority ruling is one that Trump fought to avoid. The administration’s lawyers argued in filings that the court faced a stark choice: “With tariffs, we are a rich nation; without tariffs, we are a poor nation,” they wrote. “The President has stated that ‘[o]ne year ago, the United States was a dead country, and now, because of the trillions of dollars being paid by countries that have so badly abused us, America is a strong, financially viable, and respected country.’”