Washington, Feb 20 (.) US President Donald Trump on Friday slammed the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision that ruled he does not have the authority to levy sweeping tariffs under a federal emergency powers law, noting he will pursue “alternatives” to tariffs under emergency law.
“Other alternatives will now be used to replace the ones that the court incorrectly rejected,” Trump said during a White House press briefing Friday afternoon. “We have alternatives. Great alternatives. Could be more money. We’ll take in more money, and we’ll be a lot stronger for it. We’re taking in hundreds of billions of dollars. We’ll continue to do so.”
The president also announced he is imposing a 10% “global tariff” following the court’s decision. “Today I will sign an order to impose a 10% global tariff under section 122 over and above our normal tariffs already being charged,” Trump said, Fox News reported.
“And we’re also initiating several section 301 and other investigations to protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies.”
The high court blocked Trump’s tariffs levied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in what amounts to a major test of executive branch authority.
Trump called the ruling “deeply disappointing,” saying he was “ashamed” of certain members of the court. “I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed, for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” the president said.
“In actuality, I was very modest in my ask of other countries and businesses because… I wanted to be very well-behaved.
“I didn’t want to do anything that would affect the decision of the court, because I understand the court. I understand how they are very easily swayed. I want to be a good boy. I have very effectively utilized tariffs over the past year to make America great again,” he said.
A source outside the Trump administration told Fox News that an aide came into the closed-door White House breakfast with governors earlier Friday and handed Trump a note about the Supreme Court ruling. The source said Trump “called it a disgrace, and then he went on with the remarks.”
Some of the Supreme Court’s nine justices will likely be sitting in the audience when the president delivers the State of the union address on Tuesday.
“The Democrats on the court are thrilled, but they will automatically vote no,” Trump said during the news conference. “They also are a, frankly, disgrace to our nation… They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution. It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think.”
In the opinion, the high court declared, “Our task today is to decide only whether the power to ‘regulate… importation,’ as granted to the President in IEEPA, embraces the power to impose tariffs. It does not.”
Trump has made tariffs a key plank of his economic agenda since retaking the Oval Office last year, but his policies have not come without controversy.
Earlier, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled President Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on nearly every country under a federal emergency powers law, delivering a significant blow to the president’s signature economic policy.
The high court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. The Supreme Court divided 6-3, with Chief Justice John Roberts delivering the opinion for the court. Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. “IEEPA contains no reference to tariffs or duties.
The Government points to no statute in which Congress used the word ‘regulate’ to authorize taxation. And until now no President has read IEEPA to confer such power,” Roberts wrote in a portion of the decision joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.
“We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
The legal battle over Trump’s tariffs marked the first in which the Supreme Court evaluated the legal merits of one of his second-term policies. The high court has allowed the president to enforce many of his plans temporarily while legal proceedings moved forward, but its decision invalidating Trump’s global tariffs is the most significant loss of his second term so far.
The court upheld a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that ruled Trump’s tariffs were illegal. The majority did not address the issue of refunds for businesses who paid tariffs on imports.
The six justices in the majority agreed that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs, but split on their reasoning. Roberts, Gorsuch and Barrett said the tariffs fail to meet the standard set under the “major questions doctrine,” which states broad assertions of power claimed by the executive branch on issues of political or economic significance must be clearly authorized by Congress.
“[T]he legislative process helps ensure each of us has a stake in the laws that govern us and in the Nation’s future. For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent. For others, it may not seem so obvious,” Gorsuch wrote in his concurrence. “But if history is any guide, the tables will turn and the day will come when those disappointed by today’s result will appreciate the legislative process for the bulwark of liberty it is.”
Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson — the three liberals in the majority — said that ordinary interpretation of the statute was enough to strike down the tariffs.
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