Amid the ongoing row over the US Supreme Court rejecting President Donald Trump’s global tariffs as ‘unlawful’, the Republican leader issued a fresh threat to countries that want to “play games”, warning them of a “much higher tariff and worse”.
On Friday, SCOTUS ruled 6-3 against Trump’s tariffs, finding that the President had exceeded his legal powers. Hours after the ruling, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10 per cent global tariff on foreign goods, acting quickly to keep his trade plans in place.
The next day, the President announced that he was raising the previously imposed 10 per cent tariff to 15 per cent.
Amid continued scrutiny and with global allies like the European Union and the United Kingdom reconsidering their trade deals with the US, Trump renewed tariff threats.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Any Country that wants to “play games” with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have “Ripped Off” the U.S.A for years, and even decades, will be met with much a higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to. BUYER BEWARE!!!”
In the Supreme Court ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, saying that any “extraordinary assertion” of such authority requires “clear congressional authorisation”, which Trump did not have.
The ruling brought an end to the Trump administration’s use of a law historically meant to freeze assets or impose sanctions on adversaries, rather than to impose broad trade taxes.
The US President had used a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), to impose taxes on imported goods from nearly all trading partners without seeking the US Congress’s approval.
Trump’s global tariffs were imposed on allies from Canada to India; the latter faced a 50 per cent tariff until recently. A trade agreement with New Delhi reduced tariffs to 25 per cent and then to 18 per cent.
