Trump’s sweeping global tariffs struck down by US Supreme Court ruling – follow live

Daniel Bush
Washington Correspondent

The Supreme Court’s tariff ruling today dealt Donald Trump a major setback on one of his signature economic issues. But it doesn’t mean Trump’s trade agenda will suddenly disappear overnight.

The Court ruled that the US president does not have the authority to levy sweeping global tariffs on any country, for any reason. Under the Constitution, that sort of power falls to Congress. But the ruling left in place some tariffs the US levied on specific goods from specific countries – offering the administration a roadmap to try to retool its tariffs policy.

In the past, Congress and the courts have given presidents leeway to impose tariffs on targeted goods, or for brief periods of time. For example, President Richard Nixon imposed a sweeping tariff on imports in 1971 to combat a currency crisis, but kept them in place for just four months. In 2003, President George W Bush imposed tariffs on steel imports and kept them in place for approximately nine months.

Had Trump followed that model closely, more of his tariffs may have survived legal challenges. The court ruling Friday may push the administration to revisit that approach, and look for ways to impose more targeted tariffs going forward.

Either way, Trump is unlikely to give up on an issue that has animated him for decades – since long before he ran for the White House. Trump has argued for years that the US needs an aggressive tariffs regime to compete with China and other economic rivals. He won’t give that argument up easily, even if the Supreme Court just reigned in his power to act alone on trade.