Donald Trump is affected. Friday's ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States, declaring virtually all of the tariffs imposed over the last 12 months illegal, has left his administration without one of its favorite tools of economic and foreign policy. And the president, with a hole in his discourse. The central thesis since his return to power has been that he can do practically anything in any field, but especially in trade. And that is the ace up his sleeve that allows him to strengthen his country's position on the global stage and rebalance what he considers an unfair situation for decades.
The Supreme Court did not say that the United States and the president cannot impose tariffs, only that the instrument he used, the law of emergency economic powers, is not valid. He must either find other ways or convince Congress. Trump lashed out furiously on Friday against the six judges, three of them part of the conservative majority, who drove the ruling. He called them "lapdogs", "unpatriotic", idiots, "not very smart people." And this Saturday he did it again, also announcing that the global tariff of 10%, which he had announced on Friday, now rises to 15%.
The administration has different resources to apply tariffs to other countries. Last Tuesday, it invoked section 122 of the trade law, something that had never been done before. It is a controversial provision that, in exceptional circumstances, allows punishing other countries with up to 15% when there is a deep trade imbalance. However, this measure is only valid for a maximum of 150 days unless Congress agrees to extend it. Trump arbitrarily decided on a global tariff of 10%, but today, after consulting with his pillow and without his anger diminishing, he has decided to raise it to the maximum possible, while his experts and lawyers study the real consequences of the ruling, both for the payment of tariffs already paid and for the trade agreements he has affirmed with the entire planet.
"After a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily un-American decision on tariffs issued yesterday by the Supreme Court of the United States, after many months of reflection, I ask that this statement serve to indicate that I, as President of the United States of America, will increase, with immediate effect, the global tariff of 10% imposed on countries that, many of them, have been cheating the US for decades, without repercussions (until my arrival!), to the fully permitted and legally verified level of 15%," the US president wrote in a message on his social network.
Everything indicates that it is a visceral reaction, going to the maximum of what provision 122 allows. But without yet clear on his margin of action and how that affects all the agreements already in place. "In the coming months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new legally permissible tariffs, which will continue our extraordinary process of making America great again, BIGGER THAN EVER!" concludes his message.