The United States Supreme Court on Friday struck down global tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, ruling that he exceeded his authority in imposing the levies, AFP reported.
The court ruled 6:3 in the judgement, saying that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Trump had invoked, “does not authorise the president to impose tariffs”.
It was upholding a lower court’s ruling in May that Trump’s use of the Act exceeded his authority. While the lower court had ruled against the tariffs, they had remained in effect as a federal appeals court had on May 30 reinstated them temporarily.
The Trump administration had challenged the lower court’s ruling.
On Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the judgement that the president had asserted the “extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration and scope”, CNBC reported.
But the Trump administration “points to no statute” in which the US Congress has previously said that the language in the Act could be applied to tariffs, Roberts was quoted as saying.
The scope of the ruling was not immediately clear.
The judgement does not affect all tariffs imposed by Trump. The sector-specific duties he imposed on steel and aluminium, for example, invoking other laws remain in place, CNBC reported.
In April, Trump imposed the tariffs on dozens of countries, including India, claiming high tariffs the countries imposed on US goods. The levies were eventually reduced once bilateral trade deals had been agreed to, including in the case of India.
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