Why I haven’t gotten my knickers in a twist about the SCOTUS tariff decision
Yes, it’s a flex from a judiciary that needs to be reined in, but it’s also inconsequential in the grand scheme of Trump’s economic plans.
Andrea Widburg | February 21, 2026
As was true for many conservatives, when I saw the headline saying that the Supreme Court had reversed Trump’s tariffs, I admit that my stomach sank. My first thought was that this was an epic disaster for the Trump administration. More than that, I thought that this is an epic disaster for the strong Trump economy, because tariffs have been a major leg of that stool.
Then I took a deep breath and had a couple of useful thoughts. My first thought was, I bet Trump has a backup plan, because he’s always known that this could happen. He’s not the kind of guy to see a known risk and sit there sucking his thumb.
It turns out that I was right. Without missing a beat, the administration pivoted to other tariff powers in the executive arsenal.
As Justice Kavanaugh wrote in his dissent, while the Supreme Court now claims that Trump erred by using his powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (a conclusion, by the way, that I believe represents judicial overreach), the fact remains that Congress has still granted the president broad tariff authority:
Although I firmly disagree with the Court’s holding today, the decision might not substantially constrain a President’s ability to order tariffs going forward. That is because numerous other federal statutes authorize the President to impose tariffs and might justify most (if not all) of the tariffs at issue in this case—albeit perhaps with a few additional procedural steps that IEEPA, as an emergency statute, does not require. Those statutes include, for example, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232); the Trade Act of 1974 (Sections 122, 201, and 301); and the Tariff Act of 1930 (Section 338). In essence, the Court today concludes that the President checked the wrong statutory box by relying on IEEPA rather than another statute to impose these tariffs.
Sure enough, practically within minutes of the decision coming down, Trump issued a “Temporary Import Duty to Address Fundamental International Payment Problems”:
President Trump is invoking his authority under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which empowers the President to address certain fundamental international payment problems through surcharges and other special import restrictions.
By taking this action, the United States can stem the outflow of its dollars to foreign producers and incentivize the return of domestic production. By increasing its domestic production, the United States can correct its balance-of-payments deficit, while also creating good paying jobs, and lowering costs for consumers.
The Proclamation imposes, for a period of 150 days, a 10% ad valorem import duty on articles imported into the United States.
The temporary import duty will take effect February 24 at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time.
Trump excluded from the order only those goods that are necessary to meet America’s critical national security, transportation, food, health needs, etc.
So, for now, we have economic stability while Trump gets his other ducks in a row. As Scott Bessent explains, these other ducks will ensure a continuous flow of tariff revenue into the treasury in 2026:
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2024934679493677217more
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/02/why_i_haven_t_gotten_my_knickers_in_a_twist_about_the_scotus_tariff_decision.html
