Supreme Court strikes down Trump tariffs, rebuking president's signature economic policy [View all]

Source: CNBC

Published Fri, Feb 20 2026 10:03 AM EST Updated 12 Min Ago


The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a huge chunk of President Donald Trump’s far-reaching tariff agenda, in a major rebuke of the president’s key economic policy. The law that undergirds those import duties “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs,” the majority ruled six to three in a decision Trump had been awaiting.

The ruling is a massive loss for Trump, who has made tariffs — and his asserted power to impose them on any country at any time, without congressional input — a central feature of his administration’s economic and foreign policies. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion of the court. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. The ruling was silent on whether tariffs that have been paid under the higher rates will need to be refunded.

Since retaking the White House, Trump has rapidly reshaped America’s longstanding trade relationships by imposing a staggering array of import duties that have touched nearly every country on earth. Many of those tariffs were invoked using a novel reading of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. They include Trump’s near-global “reciprocal” tariffs, and separate duties related to the alleged trafficking of deadly drugs into the U.S.

IEEPA does not explicitly mention tariffs, and the court ruling Friday said it the law does not grant the president authority to impose tariffs. Instead, it allows the president to “regulate … importation” of foreign property transactions after declaring a national emergency in order to deal with certain “unusual and extraordinary” threats. The Trump administration has argued that language empowers the president to impose tariffs on foreign goods.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/20/supreme-court-trump-tariffs-ruling.html