The court’s decision to invalidate many of Mr Trump’s tariffs raised questions about what would become of all the agreements struck with major trading partners and the one on the anvil with India that was touted to be the “father of all deals” and was close to obtaining signatures on the dotted line after final consultations
The US Supreme Court overturned President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The court, with six of nine judges ruling against the tariffs, stood up for the rule of law and in the process emphasised that the Constitution is more powerful than the President of the United States. In America, the judges ruled, only the Congress can impose taxes on the people.
The verdict was crystal clear, and it would have been definitive if not for the man who is the US President now — Mr Donald Trump. His actions in the wake of the devastating ruling negating the powers of the President have thrown the world into even greater disarray than they were in the time he was ordering tariffs and then doing flip flops like an Olympic gymnast.
The court’s decision to invalidate many of Mr Trump’s tariffs raised questions about what would become of all the agreements struck with major trading partners and the one on the anvil with India that was touted to be the “father of all deals” and was close to obtaining signatures on the dotted line after final consultations.
The commerce ministry deferring the visit of its negotiating team to the US reveals the confusion that is reigning now in the wake of the verdict, led by Chief Justice John Roberts and Mr Trump’s idiosyncratic reactions, ranging from outright crude curses aimed at judges to unfurling the US admin’s alternative plans to bring back the “Trump Tariffs” that will rule global trade regardless.
At the height of his tariff tantrums, Mr Trump’s eternally jumpy figures leapt to 145 per cent on China and, on the other hand, nosedived to zero in India for American imports after having fixed the tariffs at 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent penalty because India dared to import Russian oil. The position changed somewhat on the premise that India will taper down its buying of Russian oil.
What is the tariff percentage on Indian goods now is a billion-dollar question — will it be 15 (baseline Trump global tariff for almost all countries) plus three per cent duty adding up to 18 per cent? Will it be more or will it be any less after Mr Trump signs the updated order? Mr Trump seems to have suggested that nothing has changed about the Interim Trade Agreement which India “has signed” and that it will remain in place along with an 18 per cent tariff.
The US Supreme Court ruling might just be the breathing space India has got in which time it could rethink the whole process of whether any trade deal with the US is necessary and if such a deal is not impinging on the strategic autonomy in foreign relations that India has been professing while virtually abandoning any thought of getting a fair deal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s friend Mr Trump.
Clear as US chief justice John Roberts and assenting judges were in determining that tariffs were indeed taxes, Mr Trump’s objectives have gone well beyond the remit of trade in weaponising the use of duties to raise money, intervene in foreign conflicts and punish friends as well as foes for various reasons. In these circumstances, the belief that India will benefit from any trade deal with the US may have faded already.
