{"id":297509,"date":"2026-02-23T03:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/297509\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T03:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:26:08","slug":"us-tariff-policy-hasnt-changed-despite-supreme-court-ruling-trade-chief-says-trump-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/297509\/","title":{"rendered":"US tariff policy \u2018hasn\u2019t changed\u2019 despite supreme court ruling, trade chief says | Trump tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top US trade negotiator Jamieson Greer insisted on Sunday that the Trump administration was set to persist with its tariffs policy, two days after the supreme court<\/a> declared<\/a> many of Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s tariffs illegal.<\/p>\n

The ruling issued on Friday by the highest US court was a sharp rebuke<\/a> to the Republican president that toppled<\/a> a key pillar of his aggressive economic agenda \u2013 even as it prompted Trump to announce<\/a> a new global tariff using different statutes, albeit temporary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is, we want to maintain the policy we have, have as much continuity as possible, make sure that business understands this is the direction we\u2019ve been going. We\u2019re going to continue going this way,\u201d Greer told the ABC News Sunday politics show This Week.<\/p>\n

ABC host Martha Raddatz asked Greer about the government\u2019s persistence despite the unpopularity of the policy with the public, citing an ABC\/Washington Post\/Ipsos poll that showed<\/a> 64% of those surveyed in the US disapproved of tariffs as an economic strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe policy hasn\u2019t changed. The legal tools that implement that may change but the policy hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d he said, arguing that it gives US business \u201ca lot of leverage\u201d in world trade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Greer also said in a separate interview with CBS that the US will not back out of tariff deals it has already sealed with a number of countries around the world including the UK<\/a>, the EU, Japan<\/a>, Switzerland<\/a> and others, even though the supreme court ruled that tariffs imposed in those deals were illegal.<\/p>\n

He said that the 15% global tariff<\/a> Trump announced on Saturday, up from 10% announced on Friday in the immediate aftermath of the court ruling, was distinct from the bilateral agreements struck in the last nine months with around 20 countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them to understand these deals are going to be good deals,\u201d Greer said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to stand by them. We expect our partners to stand by them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greer conceded in an interview with CBS on Sunday that the administration would have less flexibility in imposing emergency tariffs<\/a> of the type knocked down by the court as an inappropriate use of a 1977 emergency powers law.<\/p>\n

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer<\/a>, a Democrat, called the ruling a win for American consumers and an example of how Trump\u2019s \u201coverreach failed\u201d, adding: \u201cA president cannot ignore Congress and unilaterally slap tariffs on Americans \u2026 Now Trump should end this reckless trade war for good and finally give families and small businesses the relief they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s policy is designed to penalize other countries\u2019 exporters and inspire domestic and foreign manufacturers to invest and make more goods within the US, but critics argue that American consumers have simply ended up paying more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The supreme court ruling infuriated Trump, who on Saturday announced a 15% global tariff on all foreign imports, devised under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, a different legal framework to the one investigated by the supreme court.<\/p>\n

US wine importer Victor Schwartz, who was a plaintiff in one of the two cases brought by US small business that elevated the battle all the way to the supreme court, declared himself relieved and excited by the court ruling, Fox News Digital reported<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to describe the feeling of elation, of seeing that, yes, we were right, and the court agrees with us, and a feeling that justice prevailed,\u201d he said in an interview with the outlet.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast spring, thousands of American small businesses like mine were thrown into chaos,\u201d Schwartz said, referring to the so-called \u201cliberation day\u201d tariffs<\/a>. \u201cThe administration\u2019s unprecedented tariffs, which my business was forced to pay upfront, threatened our very existence,\u201d he further told the outlet.<\/p>\n

In the 6-3 ruling on Friday, with three conservative-leaning justices dissenting, the court decided<\/a> that a 1977 law designed to address US national emergencies did not provide the legal justification for most of the Trump administration\u2019s tariffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tariffs typically need to be approved by Congress, which has sole authority under the constitution to levy taxes. Trump argued that he had the right to impose tariffs on trading partners under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, which in some circumstances grants the president authority to regulate or prohibit international transactions during a national emergency.<\/p>\n

But in its majority opinion, the court said the ability to enact tariffs during peacetime does in fact belong to Congress.<\/p>\n

Greer indicated that the administration would not automatically seek congressional authorization for the new tariffs, which are destined to expire within five months without it.<\/p>\n

Greer also told ABC that the administration will leave the issue of refunds for the tariffs<\/a> imposed so far to the court of international trade. He said the supreme court had \u201ccreated a situation where they struck down the tariffs and gave zero guidance on this\u201d.<\/p>\n

Separately, treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the administration would wait for a lower court\u2019s direction on the topic of refunds on the cost of tariffs so far on US business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president and the administration remain undeterred on re-shoring American factories and getting rid of massive trade imbalances,\u201d Bessent told CNN\u2019s State of the Union. \u201cThat\u2019s the big story here. We\u2019re immediately going to go to Section 122 tariffs and the revenue projections for the US treasury for 2026 are unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also on CNN, California governor Gavin Newsom<\/a> attacked Trump\u2019s tariff policy, saying \u201cthe whole thing is a farce\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalk about petulance \u2026 it was 10% two days ago and maybe 20% tomorrow. This is madness. He\u2019s flailing. He\u2019s a punch-drunk boxer. He\u2019s just trying to hit anything, even his shadow,\u201d Newsom said.<\/p>\n

He described the Trump-Bessent crafted economy as \u201cdumb and dumber \u2026 they\u2019ve wrecked this economy. 1.4% GDP growth in the last quarter, inflation back up to 3%, the worst jobs we\u2019ve seen since 2013 \u2026 it\u2019s a wrecking-ball presidency\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top US trade negotiator Jamieson Greer insisted on Sunday that the Trump administration was set to persist with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-297509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}