The Supreme Court handed Donald Trump a rare legal defeat, ruling 6-3 that the administration exceeded its executive authority in imposing the levies.
The decision, which upholds earlier lower court rulings, found that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not grant the president authority to set tariffs on imported goods.
Trump had declared a national emergency in April 2025, citing the trade deficit, seeking to implement a baseline 10% duty on all imports along with steeper reciprocal rates on certain trading partners.
The High Court, the nation’s top judicial body comprising nine justices, heard oral argument in the case on November 5, 2025.
Justices determined that the 1977 law’s provisions for regulating imports during an emergency did not extend to tariff-setting powers, which Congress has historically reserved for itself under the Constitution’s commerce clause.
The administration had argued that IEEPA’s language permitting regulation of importation encompassed the ability to levy duties, an interpretation the majority rejected.
Trump characterized the ruling as politically motivated and warned of possible trade retaliation from foreign governments.
The ruling leaves some tariffs intact but overturns Trump’s country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs and the 25% tariff on select imports from Canada, China, and Mexico, previously justified as a response to fentanyl.