The United States Supreme Court ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump did not have the authority to implement the punitive tariffs he imposed last year on countries he accused of ripping off his country in trade, including South Africa.
Trump argued that Congress delegated to him an extraordinary power in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on any products he wanted, from any countries he chose.
“We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution,” the Supreme Court said in Friday’s ruling, which surprised many given that the bench is dominated by conservative judges aligned to Trump’s Republican party.
“Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
It was not immediately clear if Trump would comply with the ruling, but the judgement offers some hope of relief for countries like South Africa, which Washington slapped with a 30% import tariff from last August.
Pretoria said at the time that the tax would effectively shave 0.4% off the country’s economic growth and eradicate 30 000 jobs. As a response, it said it would implement a temporary employer relief scheme funding for affected companies through the department of employment and labour.
The tariff came amid deteriorating diplomatic relations between the US and South Africa, partly over Trump’s false accusations of a white genocide targeting mainly Afrikaners. The two countries are also on opposing sides of the divide in relation to Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Trump administration slapped South Africa with a 30% import tariff, effective last August
