The US Supreme Court has thrown out most of the tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on nearly all US trading partners, finding his ability to unilaterally impose tariffs exceeded his powers under a decades-old law.
The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling released on Friday will block Trump's ability to use tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to extract concessions from trading partners and punish countries that reject his demands. Trump has already pledged to find other ways to maintain tariffs, although the alternative leaves the administration with fewer, more time-constrained options than IEEPA, the 1977 law the administration has used to impose across-the-board tariffs on most imports.
The Constitution "did not vest any part of the taxing power in the executive branch," chief justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.
The Supreme Court decision affects Trump's tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, where he cited an economic emergency created by the three countries' alleged inaction to stop the flow of fentanyl drugs into the US.
The Supreme Court ruling also strikes down Trump's most extensive action — imposing tariffs of 10pc and higher since 5 April 2025 on nearly every US trading partner to address the "economic emergency" of persistent US trade deficits.
The Supreme Court's decision also will affect the tariffs Trump imposed on imports from Brazil, US government lawyers informed the Court of International Trade last month. Trump cited Brazil's alleged suppression of freedom of speech as a reason to impose tariffs.
The decision will not affect tariffs on US imports of steel, aluminum, cars and auto parts, which Trump imposed by citing well-tested legal trade authorities.
Next steps
Trump and his economic team had recently stepped up public advocacy for the Supreme Court to leave his trade policy in place, highlighting the key role tariffs play in his foreign policy and in federal revenue generation.
"I'm waiting for a decision from the Supreme Court," Trump said on Thursday. "Without tariffs, what would you do? Everybody would be bankrupt, everybody, the whole country would be bankrupt."
But his administration has prepared for the possibility of the Supreme Court striking down the tariffs. The US Trade Representative's office in the past month quickly wrapped up trade deals with most major US trade partners that had languished for months. Trade deals struck with India, Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam call on those countries to increase energy and other imports from the US.
The administration now is expected to try to quickly enact a 10pc tariff after the Supreme Court's decision because of the negative ruling, probably by invoking Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, which allows imposing tariffs of up to 15pc to address a balance of payments issue.
But that legal venue comes with limitations. The administration can impose those tariffs only for a period of 150 days. Any extensions would require explicit authorization from Congress.
The Republican-led US Congress has not challenged Trump's tariff authority to date, although lawmakers have increasingly voiced concerns about the effect of tariffs on prices. The House of Representatives and the Senate have voted on separate resolutions challenging the tariffs Trump has imposed on imports from Canada and Brazil, but they have not passed any tariff legislation.
The money question
The US has collected nearly $284bn in customs duties since the start of Trump's second term, up by $204bn from the year-earlier period, according to data from the US Treasury Department.
Hundreds of companies, including refiners Valero and Marathon Petroleum, have already filed lawsuits seeking to recover the tariffs.
The effective US tariff rate was around 13pc as of late 2025, up from 2.6pc a year earlier, according to research published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on 12 February. US companies and consumers paid about 90pc of the tariff burden, with only a fraction absorbed by foreign producers, the Fed researchers found.
