The United States Supreme Court has struck down a huge chunk of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, deeming them illegal and killing them off.
The law that undergirds those import duties “does not authorise the President to impose tariffs,” the majority ruled 6-3 in the long-awaited decision.
This decision creates a massive loss for the U.S. as the country would now have to refund more than US$100 billion to businesses that paid tariffs.
However, it is unclear how the refund process will work, and the court decision did not provide clear guidance.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who disagreed with the majority vote, wrote that the refund process is likely to be a “mess”.
“The United States may be required to refund billions of dollars to importers who paid the IEEPA tariffs, even though some importers may have already passed on costs to consumers or others,” he wrote.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump said the Supreme Court members who voted against the tariffs “should be ashamed of themselves”.
“Their decision was ridiculous but, now the adjustment process begins, and we will do everything possible to take in even more money than we were taking in before!” he said.
Following the announcement, Trump has also said he would introduce new tariffs using the legislation unrelated to the court ruling that could be “potentially higher” than the previous tariffs.
This includes his announcement that he would increase global tariffs from 15% from 10% “effective immediately”.
Many welcomed the decision to deem the tariffs illegal, including Brooklyn Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.
“The Supreme Court decision striking down the harmful Trump Tariffs is a big victory for the American people,” Jeffries said.
“And another crushing defeat for the wannabe King.”
The decision does not apply to product-specific tariffs on steel, aluminium, copper, cars and car parts, timber and furniture.
