Trump unlikely to abandon trade agendaPublished at 17:01 GMT 20 February
Daniel Bush
washington correspondent
The Supreme Court's tariff decision today dealt a major blow to Donald Trump on one of his signature economic issues. But that doesn't mean Trump's trade agenda will suddenly disappear overnight.
The Court ruled that the US President does not have the authority to impose blanket global tariffs on any country for any reason. Under the Constitution, that type of power falls to Congress. But the decision left in place some tariffs imposed by the US on specific goods from specific countries – offering the administration a roadmap to try to reframe its tariff policy.
In the past, Congress and the courts have given presidents leeway to impose tariffs on targeted goods or for short periods of time. For example, President Richard Nixon imposed sweeping tariffs on imports in 1971 to deal with a currency crisis, but kept them in place for only four months. In 2003, President George W. Bush imposed tariffs on steel imports and kept them in place for about nine months.
If Trump had followed that model closely, most of his tariffs could have survived legal challenges. The court's decision Friday could prompt the administration to reconsider that approach and look for ways to impose more targeted tariffs going forward.
Either way, Trump is unlikely to abandon the issue that has excited him for decades — long before he ran for the White House. Trump has argued for years that the US needs an aggressive tariff regime to compete with China and other economic rivals. He won't give up that argument easily, even if the Supreme Court curbs his power to act alone on business.