(U. S.) U.S. Supreme Court rules IEEPA tariffs illegal, global tariff system faces revaluation

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the "Learning Resources v. Trump" case on February 20, finding 6 to 3 that the "International Emergency Economic Powers Act" (IEEPA) did not grant the president the power to impose tariffs. The ruling noted that the right to tax is a core constitutional power granted to Congress, and that the expression "to regulate… imports" in IEEPA does not constitute a tariff authority. As a result, the two types of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration under IEEPA-the "fentanyl tariff" for Mexico, Canada and China and the "reciprocal tariff" for the world-were found to be illegal and ceased to apply.

On the day of the ruling, Trump signed an executive order to "terminate specific tariff actions", demanding that the relevant tariffs be stopped as soon as possible; the US Customs and Border Protection Agency announced that it would stop collecting IEEPA tariffs from 0:00 on February 24. The scale of tariffs previously collected under the law was about more than US $160 billion, and the method and time limit for the refund were not ruled by the Supreme Court.

In order to fill the policy gap, the United States immediately changed to Article 122 of the 1974 Trade Law to impose a 10% tariff on global imports, which will be implemented from February 24 for a maximum of 150 days (to July 24). Any extension must be approved by Congress. According to this clause, the tariffs under Article 232 (steel, aluminum, copper, etc.) and Article 301 are not affected by this ruling and continue to be implemented.

For agricultural trade, the direct significance of this ruling is that the tariffs imposed on North American neighbors on the grounds of "fentanyl" have been stopped, reducing the cost of agricultural products imported by the United States from Mexico and Canada; however, the continuation of 10% global tariffs has not really subsided. Exporters from all over the world are generally concerned about whether the refund can be landed smoothly and whether the United States will introduce alternative tariff tools within the 150 window.

Source: US Supreme Court ruling; DLA Piper, Withers Legal Analysis; Reuters, February 2026.