New Delhi, Mar 16 (UNI) US President Donald Trump on Monday strongly criticised the country’s Supreme Court for overturning his unilateral decision to impose Tariffs and deciding to give away trillions of Dollars to countries and companies and warned that he has the absolute right to charge Tariffs in another form.
Pointing out that the decision to impose Tariffs mattered most to him, he said the Court knew how badly he wanted this ‘’victory’’ for the US. Instead, the Court decided to ”potentially give away Trillions of Dollars to countries and companies that have been taking advantage of the United States for decades.”
Trump said on his social media platform that the US Supreme Court had made these countries very happy. ”As the Court pointed out, I have the absolute right to charge TARIFFS in another form, and have already started to do so,” Trump said.
Trump’s tweet on Monday (today) on Tariffs in the midst of a raging war with Iran seems an attempt to reassert his authority following a major legal defeat. In recent social media posts, he also claimed he has the absolute right to impose Tariffs in alternative forms.
He said the hundreds of Billions of dollars these countries want the US to pay back to others who have ‘disrespected’ the public should be viewed as just another reason why the United States has been in such major decline. ”But, not anymore, because we have MADE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN and, very soon, it will be GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!’’
Trump said the US was unnecessarily ‘’RANSACKED’’ by the United States Supreme Court, which has become little more than a ‘’weaponised and unjust Political Organisation. The sad thing is, they will only get worse.’’
Describing the US Supreme Court as ”completely inept and embarrassing,” he said this was not what it was set up for. ”They are hurting our country, and will continue to do so. All I can do, as President, is call them out for their bad behaviour!’’
On February 20, the US Supreme Court issued a landmark 6-3 ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 does not grant the President the authority to unilaterally impose sweeping global Tariffs and the power to impose taxes and tariffs belongs exclusively to the US Congress.
The U.S. government is now facing a financial obligation to return the money to thousands of affected businesses and importers. The estimated total to be returned is approximately USD 166 billion to USD 175 billion. A US trade court judge ruled that the government must pay interest on top of the principal refund amounts.
While the money is often described as going back to “countries,” the refunds are actually owed to the individual importers and businesses (such as FedEx and Costco) that paid the duties at U.S. ports. US Customs and Border Protection is currently developing a digital portal called CAPE to automate and process these thousands of refund claims, with payments expected to begin later this year.
Despite the ruling, the administration has already implemented a temporary 10-15 per cent global import surcharge using a different legal authority (Section 122 of the Trade Act) to keep trade pressure on foreign partners.
