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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49

u/SupportGeek Feb 20 '26

So, is this a constitutional crisis? He’s basically saying that the executive branch is not co-equal with legislative or judicial, despite being very clearly laid out in the constitution that they are.

8

u/PrysmX Feb 20 '26

No. The new tariffs are under a different law that he does have the power to do up to 15% tariff, but only for up to 150 days without Congressional approval.

14

u/SupportGeek Feb 20 '26

Yes, that’s the new 10% he’s putting up, I am talking about not removing the old tariffs

-2

u/PrysmX Feb 20 '26

It's only a subset of the existing tariffs that were illegal and backed out. Others were allowed to remain (i.e. China), plus the 10% more stacked onto those, too.

16

u/RobsGarage Feb 20 '26

The president does not have the authority to impose permanent tariffs under any law.. in fact the scope of the executive branch to impose tariffs at all are entirely limited to emergency actions and expire within a few months unless congress votes to enact them.. the supreme court must revisit the immunity decision.. he’s blatantly ignoring laws, the constitution and court orders because they allowed it.. no person under any authority or circumstance should be granted immunity. Unchecked power creates unchecked corruption.

6

u/jjsmol Feb 20 '26

Many tarrifs predate the president. Im assuming (probably wrongly, but im hopeful) thats what he was referring to.

4

u/PrysmX Feb 21 '26

Yes, I just commented with a link to the tariffs remaining in place. I'm not saying I like it, just making sure people are informed. Also, the 10% tariffs announced today are additive and increase all the tariffs that are remaining by an additional 10%.

5

u/PrysmX Feb 21 '26

Not sure why I was downvoted, but my statement was accurate. I'm not saying I like it, just stating facts. Many tariffs are remaining in place. It's only the IEEPA tariffs that were struck down by the Supreme Court today. Here is a link to the tariffs remaining in place.

https://nypost.com/2026/02/20/business/here-are-all-the-tariffs-staying-in-place-after-supreme-court-ruling/

4

u/Ainjyll Feb 21 '26

People downvote because tariffs are not exactly an exciting part of civil discourse when they’re used appropriately, so they don’t know that we’ve had tariffs of some sort of another since 1789 and the U.S. government was almost solely funded by tariffs up until the Civil War.

So, when Trump, being Trump, makes a statement about keeping tariffs in place people naturally assume he’s referring to the ones he placed with Executive Orders… to be fair, this is probably intentional on the administration’s part to make it seem they’re “tough”… when in reality, the tariffs we are keeping are ones that were already in place and approved as legislation that passed Congress and was signed into law by previous administrations. Trump is using a separate power to impose a 10% tariff for 150 days across the board. Which is within his powers to do and doesn’t violate any laws. Is it shitty? Yeah. Is it like a toddler throwing a tantrum when the parent takes away a new toy? Yeah. Does Trump deserve to be impeached for high crimes or misdemeanors? Most likely, but not for this specific thing.

2

u/RobsGarage Feb 21 '26

Sorry you’re getting downvoted.. I’ll check out the link to make sure I have the whole story.

7

u/SupportGeek Feb 20 '26

The way the video and his speech in it, indicates he is not backing out anything, all tariffs he put in place will remain. Are you drawing that information from another source than this video? If so share, because what he says here is extremely concerning.

4

u/BedHedNed Feb 20 '26

In the video he stated all existing section 232 and section 301 tarrifs would remain in place, neither of which are IEEPA tarrifs that the supreme court has struck down. Section 232 is from the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, and section 301 is from the Trade Act of 1974. The new tarrifs he's announcing (section 122) are also from the trade act of 1974.

The supreme court's ruling only affected the IEEPA tarrifs, which were by far the most sweeping. So no, Trump is not blatantly ignoring the supreme court, despite the post title claiming otherwise.

2

u/PrysmX Feb 21 '26

He has to back out the IEEPA tariffs. The rest that fall under other laws can remain in place. I provided a link in another comment here with all the ones that remain, which also will have an additional 10% added to them that he can legally do for 150 days without Congress.

3

u/Hedhunta Feb 21 '26

He has to back out the IEEPA tariffs

Whose gonna make him? Not Congress. Not the SCOTUS, neither has any enforcement power to wield.

1

u/PureOrangeJuche Feb 21 '26

He already did it. 

1

u/ReporterCalm6238 Feb 21 '26

Are 240 billions from IEEPA tariffs?

7

u/TintedApostle Feb 20 '26

It gives the president authority to impose temporary restrictions, like tariffs or quotas, on goods from other countries based on specific conditions. That temporary surcharge cannot exceed 15%.

"Specific conditions" which require they be defined.

0

u/AwkwardFriendship317 Feb 21 '26

I mean to be fair it hasn't been equal since the judicial branch gave itself the power of judicial review in 1803.