Trump to impose 10% global tariff and attacks ‘certain’ supreme court justices after levies ruled illegal – live

• In a stunning rebuke against the Trump administration’s economic policy, the supreme court ruled many of presisdent’s sweeping tariffs illegal. In a 6-3 decision, the court held that International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – a 1977 statute which grants the president authority to regulate or prohibit certain international transactions during a national emergency – does not authorize the president to unilaterally impose the tariffs. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

• Trump, incensed but determined, assailed the ruling at an impromptu press conference. The president called the decision “deeply disappointing” and said he was “ashamed” of the justices who ruled against his use of IEEPA. He hurled insults at them while speaking to reporters, calling them “fools and lap dogs”, “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our constitution” and even made baseless claims that they were being swayed by “foreign interests”. In contrast, he praised the conservative justices who dissented, highlighting justice Brett Kavanaugh’s written opinion.

• The president quickly announced that that he would impose 10% global tariffs under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. This statute the president impose tariffs up to 15% for up to 150 days. Trump also said all national security tariffs under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act and existing tariffs under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act remain in place and in full effect.

After Trump’s press conference today, Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren rebuked the president’s plan to use another statute to implement a 10% global tariff moving forward.

“Donald Trump illegally stole money from the American people. He should give it back to them,” she said. “Instead Trump is scheming up new ways to force Americans to pay even more.”

In a post on social media, vice-president JD Vance said the supreme court had effectively concluded that Congress “despite giving the president the ability to ‘regulate imports,’ didn’t actually mean it”.

Vance blasted the ruling – which found the administration’s use of IEEPA to justify its sweeping tariffs unconstitutional – as “lawlessness from the Court, plain and simple”. He argued the “only effect” would be to make it harder for the president to “protect American industries and supply chain resiliency.”

Throughout his press conference, Trump oscillated between railing against today’s supreme court ruling, and assuring reporters that his alternative avenues to implementing tariffs would result in getting the US “more money”.

“The process takes a little more time,” Trump said. “Great certainty has been brought back to the economy of the United States … we have the hottest country in the world. We’re going to keep it that way.”

An important note about today’s impromptu news conference – where Donald Trump assailed the supreme court’s ruling that struck down many of his tariffs. The president used the moment to underscore how deeply he prizes loyalty from the judiciary.

He blasted the justices who invalidated his use of IEEPA to impose sweeping levies as “fools and lap dogs”, while singling out the three conservative dissenters – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh – for praise.

Trump highlighted Kavanaugh’s dissent, which argued that other legal pathways remain for a president to impose tariffs. Trump announced that he plans to pursue some of those options.

“I’m so proud of him,” the president said of Kavanaugh, whom he nominated in his first term, while lauding the justice’s “genius and his great ability”.

Donald Trump didn’t say whether he regretted nominating Neil Gorsuch or Amy Coney Barrett to the supreme court, after they concurred that the president’s use of IEEPA to justify global tariffs is illegal in today’s ruling.

“I think the decision was terrible,” Trump said. “I think it’s an embarrassment to their families, if you want to know the truth, the two of them.”

Donald Trump said today that the six supreme court justices who ruled agains his global tariffs under IEEPA are “barely” invited to next week’s State of the Union address at the US Capitol.

“Honestly, I couldn’t care less if they come,” the president said.

Donald Trump didn’t add any substantial evidence for his claims that justices on the supreme court who ruled against his IEEPA tariffs today are being “swayed by foreign interests”.

He didn’t name specific foreign actors, but claimed they have “undue influence” over some of the jurists.

“Whether it’s through fear or respect or friendships, I don’t know, but I know some of the people that were involved on the other side, and I don’t like them. I think they’re real slime balls,” Trump added.

When asked whether he plans to extend the 10% global tariffs indefinitely, Donald Trump seemed to completely ignore the framework of Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act – which he’s using to implement the duties.

“We have a right to do pretty much what we want to do,” he said, ignoring the statute’s requirement for the administration to receive congressional approval for tariffs beyond 150 days.

On the, perhaps, multibillion question of refunds for tariffs implemented under IEEPA, Trump railed against the fact that the supreme court did not issue a remedy in today’s ruling.

“We’ve taken in hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said. “What happens to all the money that we took in? It wasn’t discussed. Wouldn’t you think they would have put one sentence in there saying that keep the money or don’t keep the money … I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years.”

He called the decision “totally defective”.

Trump also announced that all national security tariffs under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act and existing tariffs under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act remain in place and in full effect.

Following on from my last post, Donald Trump announced that he would impose 10% global tariffs under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. This lets the president impose tariffs up to 15% for up to 150 days. These levies would, however, require Congress’s approval to extend beyond the deadline.

Trump also said he would use Section 301 to open investigations to “protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies”.

Donald Trump insisted that “other alternatives will now be used to replace the ones that the court incorrectly rejected”.

He calls these “great alternatives could be more money”.

A reminder that the court only invalidated the tarriffs implemented under IEEPA, but there are other statutes – as we reported earlier – the president can use to maintain duties on countries.

In his remarks today, Trump lambasted the liberal supreme court justices today, as well as those who concurred with the opinion that the use of IEEPA was illegal.

“The Democrats on the court are thrilled,” Trump said. “They’re against anything that makes America strong, healthy and great again. They also are a frankly, disgrace to our nation, those justices.”

He went on to criticize “certain” members of the court, which would include justices he nominated to the bench – such as Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett.

“They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our constitution,” Trump added. “It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think,” he said without citing any evidence for his claims.

Donald Trump is now speaking to reporters in the White House press briefing room. He kicked off his remarks by saying that the supreme court’s ruling today, invalidating many of his tariffs, was “deeply disappointing”.

He said he was “ashamed of certain members of the court” – namely the six justices who said that the president’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify his global tariffs was illegal.

“I’d like to thank and congratulate justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh for their strength and wisdom and love of our country … very proud of those justices,” he said of the jurists who dissented.

Chuck Grassley – the senator who chairs the influential judiciary committee – noted in a statement today that he was “one of the only sitting members of Congress” during the passage of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Today, the supreme court said that Donald Trump’s use of IEEPA to justify his global tariffs was illegal.

Grassley called Trump “a very skilled negotiator” following the court’s ruling earlier today. “I want him to continue to be successful in expanding market access,” the Iowa lawmaker added. “I urge the Trump administration to keep negotiating, while also working with Congress to secure longer-term enforcement measures.”

Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said that “no one can deny” that Donald Trump’s use of sweeping global tariffs “has brought in billions of dollars and created immense leverage for America’s trade strategy”. The top GOP lawmaker in the House said that Congress and the Trump White House would determine the “best path forward in the coming weeks”.

Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, also welcomed the decision, slamming Trump’s tariffs as “reckless, unconstitutional and costly” and “an abuse of executive power that unlawfully taxed millions of Americans”.

She said on X:

Trump’s sweeping tariffs were reckless, unconstitutional and costly for America’s working families. Today, the Supreme Court rightfully struck them down, upholding the Constitution and rejecting an abuse of executive power that unlawfully taxed millions of Americans. The Court was clear. Tariffs cannot be enacted without the explicit authorization of Congress.

Another Republican senator, Susan Collins, of Maine, has welcomed the supreme court’s ruling. She said on X:

Today’s Supreme Court ruling reaffirms that only Congress has the constitutional authority to impose tariffs, and the President can only do so under a clear and limited delegation of authority from Congress. My votes against the President unilaterally imposing tariffs on Canada reflected the same conclusion as well as my belief that these tariffs often harm Maine’s economy and consumers.