President Donald Trump took to Truth Social late Sunday evening to assert what he believes is an “absolute right” to impose duties on America’s trading partners, further signaling that the administration is undeterred by recent legal challenges to its tariff strategy after levying new import taxes via other statutory authorities.
“The decision that mattered most to me was TARIFFS! The Court knew where I stood, how badly I wanted this Victory for our Country, and instead decided to, potentially, give away Trillions of Dollars to Countries and Companies who have been taking advantage of the United States for decades,” he wrote.
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Trump said the high court “pointed out” that he has the authority to impose tariffs “in another form, and have already started to do so.”
Last week, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) launched two Section 301 investigations into dozens of U.S. trading partners including China, the European Union and India over structural excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors, along with alleged forced labor exploitation. Hours after the Supreme Court announced its ruling against the president’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) duties, the president issued an executive order establishing a universal 10 percent baseline tariff using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
Trump continued to speak his personal Truth, saying that America’s adversaries want the U.S. to pay back hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs.
“I want to thank Justices Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh for their Wisdom and Courage pertaining to the TARIFF case, and for understanding, in addition to the Law, that our ‘Unfriendly Competitors’ should not be reimbursed and rewarded for the decades of Damage they have caused THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” he wrote.
Trump’s characterization of the federal government’s growing conundrum—the prospect of tariff refunds—implies that America’s offshore competitors will be the ones to benefit from the returned funds. But thus far, the entities that have sued the federal government for paybacks are small U.S. businesses, governors and state attorneys general looking to secure paybacks for the invalidated IEEPA tariffs and stop the Section 122 duties, which some believe are being unlawfully applied.
Research from Congressional Democrats released Friday underscores that beyond U.S. businesses that have paid into the tariff scheme, American shoppers will bear the brunt of the duty increases.
According to the study, the Trump administration’s tariffs will cost U.S. families even more this year. Each household will pay an average of $2,512 in 2026, an increase of 44 percent from 2025, when they paid $1,745 in added tariff costs.
“Despite a Supreme Court ruling that much of Trump’s tariff agenda is illegal, the Trump administration refuses to provide relief for families,” New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan, the leading Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, said upon the study’s release. “As American families continue to struggle with high costs, the President keeps choosing to institute new tariffs that will push prices even higher.”
In response, White House spokesperson Kush Desai called the Democrats’ research “phony.”
“President Trump will continue using tariffs to renegotiate broken trade deals, lower drug prices, and secure trillions in investments for the American people,” he said.
