New Delhi: US President Donald Trump on Friday announced a new 10% tariff on imports from around the world, including India, just hours after the country’s Supreme Court struck down his earlier sweeping import duties. He has already signed an order in this regard.
Addressing reporters at the White House, he said the new tariffs would be imposed under a law that limits them to 150 days and would take effect “almost immediately.”
In a series of posts on X, the White House said that Trump will always put America first.
He also described the Court’s ruling on tariffs as “deeply disappointing.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of people. That’s a new record; we set a record every time. Well thank you very much for being here. The Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing, and I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed, for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country. I’d like to thank and congratulate Justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh for their strength and wisdom and love of our country, which is right now very proud of those justices,” he told journalists.
He calaimed that tariffs have been used to end five of the eight wars, including India-Pakistan.
“Tariffs have likewise been used to end five of the eight wars that I said – I settled eight wars, whether you like it or not, including India-Pakistan, big ones. Nuclear – could have been nuclear. The prime minister of Pakistan said yesterday at the great meeting that we had at the Peace Board, he said yesterday that President Trump could have saved 35 million lives by getting us to stop fighting. They were getting ready to do some bad things,” Trump noted.
Earlier, in a 6–3 decision, the Court affirmed a lower court’s finding that the president overstepped his legal authority by invoking the 1977 statute to impose sweeping tariffs.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by companies impacted by the duties, along with 12 US states – most led by Democratic governors — challenging what they described as an extraordinary and unilateral use of the law to levy import taxes.
Meanwhile, Trump maintained that the US’ trade framework with India would remain unchanged despite the court ruling, asserting that India would continue to be subject to tariffs while the US would not.
“Nothing changes. They will be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs,” Trump said in reference to India. Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “a great man,” he added that India had earlier benefited from what he characterized as an uneven trade advantage over the US.
