Topics: Donald Trump, Tariffs, Politics, US News
President Donald Trump has brutally hit out at the Supreme Court of the United States and questioned their loyalty after they ruled against his decision to implement sweeping international tariffs without congressional approval.
The row all stems from an argument over whether Trump was justified in slapping Tariffs on multiple countries last year, with the Supreme Court ruling against his tariffs in a 6-3 majority.
In the ruling, the SCOTUS said that Trump had exceeded his authority by imposing the tariffs, something which is reserved for a national emergency.
The decision will also have come as a particular blow to Trump, as three conservative Justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Brett M. Kavanaugh all refused to back him in the first clear sign of dissent among previous supporters.
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Immediately after the ruling, Trump bitterly commented that "I'm ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what's right for our country.”
Yet this was only the beginning of his ire, as he later held an emergency press briefing to directly hit out at SCOTUS and accuse them of being ‘swayed by foreign interests’ simply for going against him.
"The court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement far smaller than people would ever think, Trump said. "It is a small movement. I won by millions of votes. We won in a landslide. With all of the cheating that went on,” he complained.
The ruling came while the President was hosting the annual Working Breakfast for Governors at the White House, and prompted Trump to oust journalists from the event as he processed the decision that wasn’t in his favour.
When he did welcome them back, later in the day, Trump was notably and visibly frustrated as he told the state governor's present for the breakfast that ‘he had to do something about the courts.’
Trump’s tariffs have been a cornerstone of his administration’s focus during his second term in office, with his IEEPA-based tariffs generating roughly $133.51 billion in total revenue during fiscal years 2025 and 2026 through Dec. 14, according to the most recent data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
However, the decision to implement such sweeping tariffs has drastically strained foreign relations with rivals and allies alike, and also seen increased volatility in the stock market as a result of America’s ongoing unpredictability.
According to JP Morgan, in light of the Supreme Court ruling, it could mean the administration loses the power to collect duties and may even need to return revenues already collected, throwing further chaos into upcoming government projects that were due to be funded by tariff revenue.
