Trump Claims Supreme Court Ruling Grants Him Greater Power to Impose Tariffs

Former US President Donald Trump declared on Monday, February 23, that he will continue to impose tariffs despite recent Supreme Court decisions. In posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump argued that the court's ruling has inadvertently granted him even greater authority to use trade licenses and tariffs against foreign nations.

"The supreme court (I will be writing this in lowercase for a while—due to a complete lack of respect!) of the United States accidentally and inadvertently gave me, as President of the United States, far greater powers and capabilities than I had before their ridiculous, stupid, and extremely divisive international community decision," Trump wrote. "Now I can use licenses to do absolutely 'terrible' things in relation to foreign states, especially those countries that have been ripping off the USA for decades."

He further stated that the court "also approved all other tariffs—and there are many—and now they can be applied much more harshly and annoyingly, with full legal certainty, than was done originally."

In another post, Trump asserted that he does not need congressional approval to implement import duties. "As president, I don't need to go back to Congress to get approval for tariffs. It was obtained long ago in many forms! And it has also just been reaffirmed by the absurd and poorly drafted Supreme Court decision!" he claimed.

The former president issued a direct threat to other countries: "Any country that wants to 'play' with the ridiculous Supreme Court decision, especially those who have 'robbed' the US for years and even decades, will face much higher tariffs than those they only recently agreed to."

This statement follows last Friday's ruling by the US Supreme Court, which determined that the law under which Trump imposed global import tariffs does not grant him such authority—stating that under the Constitution, this power resides solely with Congress.

Trump previously called that ruling a disgrace, noted he had a backup plan, and promised to maintain all national security-related tariffs. Following the decision, he directed the implementation of 10 percent tariffs on all countries. He later announced an increase in some previously imposed duties to 15 percent, effective February 25 for a period of 150 days.