Mr. Trump: An additional 10% import tax will be imposed after the Supreme Court’s ruling

On the afternoon of February 20 (US time), President Donald Trump held a press conference at the White House, about 3 hours after the US Supreme Court ruled against his import tax policy.

President Trump said he was extremely disappointed with the court’s ruling. “I’m ashamed of some members of the court because they didn’t have the courage to do what was right for the country,” Mr. Trump said.

He said he would deploy alternative tariff options, and “this could bring in more money, and therefore be stronger.”

President Trump said he will sign an executive order to impose a 10% tax under Article 122 of the 1974 Trade Act in addition to the existing levels. Along with that, according to him, tax rates related to national security under Article 301 will still be maintained. Washington will launch a number of new investigations. This tariff decree is expected to be signed today.

Mr. Trump added that the additional tariffs would be effective for 5 months. “During this period, we will conduct the necessary investigation to impose a fair tax on countries,” he said, adding that the tax is expected to take effect in the next three days.

Receiving an unfavorable ruling from the Supreme Court could cause the US government to have to refund $175 billion in taxes paid to businesses last year, according to economists at research firm Penn-Wharton Budget Model (PWBM). This number will exceed the total fiscal year 2025 budget expenditures of the US Department of Transportation (127.6 billion USD) and the US Department of Justice (44.9 billion USD).

In response to a reporter’s question about this, Mr. Trump said that the US may face lawsuits lasting the next 5 years. “We have collected hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs. I question how the collected budget money is handled, but the Supreme Court took months to draft an opinion but did not mention this content,” Mr. Trump said.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling, Tim Brightbill, co-chairman of the commercial department at law firm Wiley Rein, assessed that this narrows the US President’s options for imposing tariffs, forcing him to use tools with a slower process.

“The majority of countries will prioritize the certainty of a trade deal over the chaos of the past year,” Brightbill said. According to him, this decision limits Mr. Trump’s ability to impose new tariffs immediately, because most of the remaining authorities require investigations.

However, Ryan Majerus, a former senior US trade official and currently a partner at the law firm King & Spalding, said that Mr. Trump could still issue an executive order as soon as possible to impose new taxes under Article 122 of the 1974 Trade Act.

This provision allows for tariffs of up to 15% for a period of 150 days to respond to “serious and major” balance of payments problems, but does not require investigation or other accompanying procedures.

A close source of Reuters said the Trump administration has always considered the possibility of this type of rulings, including invoking authority under articles 232, 301, 122 and 388 of current laws. “This is a possibility that they have anticipated and have plans for,” the source said.

In December 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that if the Supreme Court ruled against Mr. Trump, the administration could still reimpose those tariffs based on other legal bases, including Article 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Article 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

According to data released by the US Department of Commerce on February 19, the US trade deficit last year was about 901.5 billion USD, down 0.2% compared to 2024. According to CNBCthe US closed a year with the imbalance almost unchanged, despite Washington’s efforts to narrow this gap with tough tariff measures, to create a more level playing field in the global market.

After Mr. Trump’s announcement of imposing a 10% tax, the US stock market increased sharply in the trading session on February 20. The S&P 500 index rose 0.6%, the Nasdaq Composite 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 139 points, or 0.3%. Earlier in the session, the DJIA dropped about 200 points because of unfavorable economic data.

Spot gold prices also increased, currently at 5,074 per ounce, up more than 1.5% compared to the beginning of the session.