February 20, 2026
President Trump is pissed about today’s Supreme Court ruling on tariffs. He insulted conservative justices he appointed — and he just imposed a 10% tariff across the board on the entire world on top of the ones already in place.
Ok – there’s a lot in there – but first and foremost — you’re probably thinking how can Trump do this? Didn’t the supreme court just rule that his tariffs were illegal? Let me refer you to what I reported just a few hours ago.
And that’s exactly what Trump is doing and he’s not going to stop there.
Ok – so Trump talked about imposing tariffs using section 232 of the Trade Expansion act of 1962. Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. And sections 301 and 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. The Supreme Court said nothing about him using those authorities to impose tariffs. And in fact several of the tariffs that Trump has already implemented fall under these laws. The supreme court only said he can’t use the international emergency economic powers act – or IEEPA – to impose these tariffs.
But about that 10% tariff – trump is using section 122 of the trade act of 1974 to impose it. Here’s the thing about section 122 – that law says he can impose up to 15% tariffs for only 150 days and then he has to remove the tariff unless congress approves and extends it. That’s only about five months….so it’s possible that other countries will just try and wait trump out because it’s unlikely that congress is going to approve this 10% tariff. But knowing that – in those five months — Trump also said his administration is going to conduct all the investigations necessary under section 301 of the trade act and section 338 of the tariff act. That one could justify in some cases up to 50% tariffs. Now – that has never been tested before and it’s completely unclear if trump will be able to make something like that happen.
But when it comes to the current tariffs that the Supreme Court struck down today – trump said he has no idea whether he’s going to refund that money.
Perhaps most shocking was President Trump’s vitriol that he extended to the justices who ruled against him and his tariffs. He suggested repeatedly – with no evidence – that those justices must have been influenced by foreign entities. But he saved his nasties words for justices Gorsuch and Barrett.
He may want to watch his tone – those same justices are going to have to rule on other major issues important to trump including a voting rights case and his birthright citizenship case.
Watch Trump’s press conference here.
