President Donald Trump can lean on alternative legislation to try to rebuild his tariff wall, after the US Supreme Court ruled that he can’t use a 1977 emergency law to impose import taxes.
The ruling invalidates a large portion of the tariffs that Trump has rolled out in his second term, but there are other ways that he can introduce import taxes. While the Constitution gives Congress the power to levy taxes and duties, lawmakers have delegated some authority to the executive branch through a number of statutes.
Trump has at least five fallback options to impose tariffs in different ways. In general, these alternatives come with more limits and procedural restrictions, meaning there’s less leeway for Trump to impose tariffs virtually immediately and set the rates as high as he chooses.