Name: US Supreme Court rules Trump's sweeping tariffs are illegal | DW News
Uploaded: 2026-02-20T17:04:41.000Z
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We begin with some news just in from the United States.

The U. S. supreme Court has struck down most of Donald Trump's tariffs on global trading partners.

Justices ruled by six votes to three that Trump lacked the authority under an emergency powers law to impose the levies.

This past year, Trump placed sweeping tariffs on dozens of nations that trade with the U. S.

the president has called the case one of the most important in US History, saying a ruling against him would be an economic body blow to the nation.

Well, let's cross over to DW's Komodowski in Washington, D. C.

misha, tell us more about the Supreme Court ruling.

Well, Terry, the Supreme Court essentially says that President Trump went too far when he imposed sweeping tariffs under a law meant for national emergencies.

And those tariffs are basically subject to his great pride.

And the decision does not affect all of his tariffs, but

it does strike down those put in place under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

So the justices said that the law does not give the president broad power to set tariffs in peacetime.

The ruling blocks Trump's reciprocal tariffs, including those on Canada, on China, and on Mexico.

They were needed to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the United States of America.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to impose taxes and duties.

And the court said that the United States is not at war and emergency powers cannot replace Congress.

So what does this mean, Misha, for Donald Trump, politically?

I mean, we haven't heard from him yet, but

we have to say that the Supreme Court rarely limits presidential power in trade.

If I may, the legal reasoning may not shock some experts, however, the political impact is major.

A number of constitutional and trade law experts had raised doubts on whether this International Emergency Economic Powers act was ever meant to give a president broad tariff powers.

This is not the first time that courts have struck down one of Donald Trump's executive actions.

Well, Terry, in the past, the justices sometimes limited President Trump's executive powers, and

sometimes they allowed some actions to stand.

In 2020, if we remember, the court blocked his attempt to end daca.

It's the Obama era program protecting young undocumented immigrants.

In a case that involved the Department of Homeland Security, the court also rejected his effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

And at the same time, the court upheld some of his policies, including a revised version of his travel ban.

Again, we have not heard from President Trump directly, but we expect it to happen anytime soon today.

And Clifford Koonin from DW Business has been tracking this story as well.

Decision is finally here from the Supreme Court.

Clifford, what does it mean for international trade?

Well, I think the imposition of these blanket tariffs shook global trade to its very core, and

the removal of many of them will have a similarly large impact.

However, I think we have to wait and see, and

we're still trying to assess what it means because this is huge.

But on the other hand, we have to see how Donald Trump reacts.

He can also impose tariffs in various sectors using other statutes that exist.

And so much harm has been done to trust and predictability and all of these things that are necessary for global trade to take place that we're going to have to see how it unfolds.

But it definitely is a blow for more predictability for legal action in trade and all of these things that are the stability, the stable background that we need for global trade.

I mean, lots of decisions were made on the basis of these tariffs being imposed, investment decisions, reciprocal.

They were and rose by quite, quite by 0.6%.

then they sort of came back a bit because markets are being cautious.

Retail stocks, car stocks, things like this.

But everyone's sort of assessing the reaction and the impact it will have.

I mean, if we think about how, as you mentioned, you know, how this was a tool that he was able to use, that Trump was able to use.

the big stick that he was going to carry when he was going to China was going to be the tariffs threat.

So I think the repercussions of this are going to be enormous.

How might this ruling reshape US Trade relationships and negotiations that are ongoing in some cases?

Well, I think that a lot of, like if you take the Europeans, for example, who've been very, very nervous ever since Donald Trump came to power, and

particularly since the imposition of the tariffs, I think that they see that the executive powers are limited by law in the states.

And that can also reassure European governments or Western governments, governments around the world, frankly, in how, you know, the idea that the Supreme Court says that he exceeded his authority, it's a big deal.

So I think it's going to change trade deals.

I think you're going to see a lot more bilateral trade deals happening.

For example, maybe the wto, the World Trade Organization, although I think that's been, that's really been sidelined for so long now.

It'll be interesting to see whether it can come back.

But there's, there's, it's going to have massive repercussions.

I can imagine that many consumers in the United States will also be wondering, you know, how is this going to affect me directly because many have been screaming about prices rising.

Do you think this could have an impact on consumer prices in the U. S. i think so.

I mean, the Federal Reserve bank of New York said that US firms and consumers had bore the bulk at roughly 90% of the economic burden of tariffs imposed in 2025.

So it should help them in that and it should be managed to bring, bring down things and, you know, it'll be good for consumers.

Clifford Koonin from DW Business, thank you.