United States President Donald J. Trump has openly rejected a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated his broad import tariffs on Nigeria and more than 180 other countries.
The ruling, delivered on Thursday, declared the global tariffs introduced during Trump’s presidency unlawful. Speaking the following day at the White House, Trump described the judgment as a major setback, saying he was deeply dissatisfied with the court’s position and accusing some justices of failing to defend American interests.
The tariffs, introduced on April 2, 2025, a date Trump referred to as “Liberation Day” imposed a 10 per cent base levy on imports from all countries, alongside higher, country-specific charges ranging between 11 and 50 per cent. Nigeria was hit with a 15 per cent tariff under the policy.
Trump’s administration justified the measures using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a decades-old law that allows presidents to regulate economic activity during national emergencies. The White House argued that the tariffs were necessary to address what it called unfair trade practices and growing trade imbalances.
Countries most affected by the policy included China, which faced tariffs as high as 145 per cent at the peak of the trade dispute, as well as India, Brazil, Japan and Cambodia.
However, in a 6–3 majority decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the president overstepped his constitutional authority by imposing sweeping tariffs without congressional approval. The court held that the emergency law cited by the administration did not grant such expansive powers.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said allowing the tariffs to stand would undermine the constitutional balance between Congress and the executive branch on trade matters. He stressed that when Congress authorises tariffs, it does so clearly and with defined limits conditions he said were absent in this case.
The court clarified that its judgment applies only to the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs and does not automatically affect other import duties imposed under separate legal frameworks.
Despite striking down the tariffs, the justices did not address whether funds already collected would be refunded. According to official records, the US government had generated about $134 billion from the disputed levies as of mid-December, collected from hundreds of thousands of importers.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh warned that the question of refunds could create serious administrative challenges, noting that the ruling offered no guidance on how the government should handle the billions already collected.
The case is being described by analysts as one of the most significant economic decisions by the Supreme Court in recent years, with major implications for presidential authority, global trade policy and future use of emergency economic powers.
