US Supreme Court Rules Against Trump Administration's Tariff Authority

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday February 20, 2026

The US Supreme Court has ruled against President Donald Trump's changing of tariff rates on other countries' products without authorisation from Congress.

The Trump Administration since the start of 2025 has made significant changes to tariff rates on products from countries around the world, using emergency powers as the legal basis for doing so without consulting Congress and citing foreign threats from drugs and trade deficits as reasons for the use of emergency powers.

Among other areas where this issue affects the shipping industry, the threat of increased tariffs was a key element of the US strategy to block a vote on the net-zero framework at the IMO in October.

The Supreme Court has now ruled against the Trump Administration's position, the organisation said on Friday.

"The Framers gave "Congress alone" the power to impose tariffs during peacetime," the court said in its ruling.

"And the foreign affairs implications of tariffs do not make it any more likely that Congress would relinquish its tariff power through vague language, or without careful limits.

"Accordingly, the President must "point to clear congressional authorization" to justify his extraordinary assertion of that power. He cannot."

Ship & Bunker News Team
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