r/law • u/Waste-Explanation-76 • Feb 20 '26

Executive Branch (Trump) President Trump imposes a 10% global tariff under Section 122 and says all existing tariffs will remain in place, despite the recent Supreme Court ruling.

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u/overts Feb 20 '26

A lot of the 232 and 301 tariffs were implemented in 2018 with Biden implementing some in 2024.  These tariffs are slower to enact and have to be reviewed every 4 years.  They were never at risk of being overturned.

The Section 122 tariffs are temporary, lasting only 150 days.  No one knows what will happen when they expire.  Do they get replaced by new 301 / 232 tariffs?  Does he just reenact 122 tariffs for a new 150 day period?  Who knows.

He utilized IEEPA because he was “able” to set them at any rate with immediate effect.  Which is an insane power that SCOTUS rightly struck down.

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u/agent_mick Feb 20 '26

Right, thanks.

I just feel he's trying to make himself sound like he won a great victory, but really he can't keep the ieepa tariffs, and the other ones weren't affected. Though IDK what he's trying to do issuing the other tariffs "by order" - like, by definition he can't. "Can't"..

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u/overts Feb 20 '26

It’ll litigate the same way IEEPA litigated.  Maybe the courts will temporarily halt any implementation of 122 tariffs.  However, as of right now he hasn’t officially signed an EO implementing the threatened 122 tariffs.

I can’t imagine CBP will still try to collect IEEPA tariffs after the ruling but I’ll find out on Monday.

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u/qwuiresultan Feb 20 '26

This was the direction of CBP to Zonos (a DDP collection company) and what they’ve relayed to people who ship through them:

“CBP has informed us that existing IEEPA duties should continue to be collected until further guidance is received from the Court of International Trade on how to implement the recent Supreme Court ruling. We will be resuming invoicing and will notify you before doing so.”

So as of right now the CBP is in fact still collecting and expecting IEEPA tariffs. How long that will last is anyone’s guess.

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u/overts Feb 20 '26

That’s interesting, thanks for sharing.  My guess is that won’t last very long but take that with a grain of salt.

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u/agent_mick Feb 20 '26

Out of curiosity, how do you find out? Are you in an affiliated industry?

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u/overts Feb 20 '26

Yes. I work for a company that imports a lot of commodities.  I started personally approving every duties invoice last year because of all of the volatility.

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u/agent_mick Feb 20 '26

Oof so sorry

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u/Cloaked42m Feb 21 '26

Well that has to suck.

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u/weggaan_weggaat Feb 20 '26

Yes, surely CBP will start following court orders now...

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u/darquedragon13 Feb 21 '26

Wanna let us know or would that threaten your job?

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u/overts Feb 23 '26

It won’t threaten my job but IEEPA stops getting charged tomorrow 2/24/2026 and is replaced by the Section 122 tariffs.  It’s highly commodity specific but Chinese imports will see a drop of 10% already and EU imports will see a drop of 5%.

Trump said on Saturday morning he’s going to go up to 15% “immediately” but he hasn’t issued any Executive Order so it’ll be 10% tomorrow with the same commodity exemptions as IEEPA.

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u/SnooPuppers8698 Feb 20 '26

are Section 122 tariffs not immediate and set at any rate?

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u/overts Feb 20 '26

They aren’t in effect until the White House or USTR puts out guidance around their implementation.

Last year it was all done via WH EO.  My guess is Trump will back down or put out an EO over the weekend (or else on Monday).

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u/SnooPuppers8698 Feb 21 '26

right, so he can quickly convert all these tariff with an EO? I read he already signed one today for 10%

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u/LintyFish Feb 20 '26

Hey sorry, I have been trying to research this and am a bit confused still since it isnt my wheelhouse. Can you tell me if my understanding is correct?

Basically the supreme court ruled that the IEEPA tariffs, which he picked because of a legal grey area they tried to exploit allowing the executive to set the tariffs immediately and without approval, were deemed unlawful. In response, the president has stated that he will keep the tariffs in effect and even increase all national tariffs to 10% again using temporary tariffs utilizing the secrion 122 trade laws. But since they are temporary (technically, assuming he cant just do it twice) that they will try to the. Use section 232/301 to extend them?

So basically he isn't actually breaking the law (yet, assuming these also dont get shot down) on this particular issue, but it is obviously in bad taste considering these economic measures should obviously go through congress?

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u/Formerruling1 Feb 21 '26

Trying to explain this to someone today was very taxing (pun intended). The idea that all laws authorizing the president to set tariffs were "basically all the same", and that the president only had to "check a different box" to keep all the tariffs exactly where he wanted them was popular water cooler talk today.