‘BUYER BEWARE!!!’: President Trump’s message to tariff-affected countries

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down IEEPA tariffs, the president has provided clarifying insight into his trade policies going forward

by Summer Lane | February 23, 2026

President Donald Trump is not backing down on tariffs in the wake of the Supreme Court’s surprising decision last week to strike down his authority to impose tariffs under the emergency authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

“The supreme court (will be using lower case letters for a while based on a complete lack of respect!) of the United States accidentally and unwittingly gave me, as President of the United States, far more powers and strength than I had prior to their ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive ruling,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Monday.

He continued:

“For one thing, I can use Licenses to do absolutely ‘terrible’ things to foreign countries, especially those countries that have been RIPPING US OFF for many decades, but incomprehensibly, according to the ruling, can’t charge them a License fee – BUT ALL LICENSES CHARGE FEES, why can’t the United States do so? You do a license to get a fee! The opinion doesn’t explain that, but I know the answer! The court has also approved all other Tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the Tariffs as initially used.”

As reported by LindellTV, the Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs last week was limited to tariff authority as it relates to IEEPA. It also did not mandate tariff-related refunds to those countries that have already paid the U.S. billions in duties over the past year.

The ruling further acknowledged standing statutes on the books that allow the president to levy tariffs outside of IEEPA – in an arguably more permanent approach. For example, Section 232 or Section 301.

“As President, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of Tariffs,” the president explained in a follow-up statement on Truth Social. “It has already been gotten, in many forms, a long time ago! They were also just reaffirmed by the ridiculous and poorly crafted supreme court decision!”

President Trump’s standing national security-related tariffs remain intact, and on Friday, he further signed an order implementing a 10 percent global tariff “over and above our normal tariffs already being charged,” he said.

He further warned this week that foreign countries that want to “play games” following the SCOTUS ruling will pay a high price.

“Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to. BUYER BEWARE!!!” the president wrote.

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