Trump refuses to give up on tariffs - a pillar of his economic legacy

Politics Trump refuses to give up on tariffs - a pillar of his economic legacy July 24, 20265:00 AM ET Danielle Kurtzleben U.S. President Donald Trump looks to reporters after getting off Air Force One on July 22, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images On the day the Supreme Court ruled against a broad swath of President Trump's tariffs, he was visibly angry – and determined to enact more tariffs anyway. "Other alternatives will now be used to replace the ones that the court incorrectly rejected," he said at a White House press briefing on February 20. "We have alternatives, great alternatives." "Alternatives" referred to laws the administration might use to authorize tariffs, after the Supreme Court said tariffs under the president's preferred route – a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA – were unlawful. Since then, the administration has demonstrated its willingness to implement a variety of those laws to rebuild the president's tariff regime. This week brought a flurry of evidence of that, as the administration replaced a global tariff with a set of new tariffs, levied new fees on Canadian imports, and threatened future tariffs on pharmaceuticals. It's an indication that the president remains defiantly committed to a favorite economic policy, even while Americans have grown frustrated with the taxes on imports. Sponsor Message Overnight, at 12:01 AM Eastern Friday, a global 10 percent tariff the president instituted after the Supreme Court's decision, expired. Those replaced a global tariff instituted under a law allowing a president to impose temporary tariffs to address particular economic problems. The administration timed a new set of tariffs on all of its largest trading partners to take effect at the same time the old, global tariff ended. The new tariffs have two tiers, of 10 and 12.5 percent, imposed on goods from the U.S.'s 60 biggest t...