Americans and the Supreme Court Agree: Trump Overstepped on Tariffs

That should have been the end of it, but Trump never learns any lessons.

Just after midnight, the president’s retaliatory 15% global tariff — imposed in a temper tantrum after the Supreme Court dared rule against him — goes into effect — just hours before his State of the Union address, at which he will try to reassure Americans that all is well.

After the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Friday that Donald Trump’s tariffs were unconstitutional, National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial said, “The tariff policy was a complete disaster. It hurt economic growth, it hurt our relationships with other countries.” According to the civil rights leader, the tariffs cost “average households … $1,000 to $3,000.”

Photo by Bent Van Aeken on Unsplash

In many cases, consumers are being hit with higher prices — and they are dogging the president over the price of goods imported to this country. A recent FOX News poll has the president’s economic disapproval rating at 59%. And an NPR/Marist poll has the president’s economic disapproval rating at 60%. The old, now removed tariffs and the new tariffs strike at the heart of affordability—and for many Black Americans, affordability is a huge isue.

Morial noted in a press release, “Tariff‑driven price increases disproportionately harm Black Americans and other marginalized communities, who already face higher cost burdens and narrower financial margins. Policies that raise household expenses without improving wages only widen our nation’s economic divide.”

But Trump tariffs don’t just hurt Black pocketbooks at the checkout, they hurt them in the paycheck, too. Black businesses are overwhelmingly small businesses, Morial said. “Tariffs make things more expensive for them, and thus they have to raise their prices.”

The National Council of Negro Women reported last summer:

Several industries where Black entrepreneurs are especially active are already feeling the effects. In the beauty sector, for example, supply chains are heavily dependent on imported goods, from hair extensions to specialty products manufactured overseas. Tariff-related price increases can force salons and retailers to raise prices, often in markets where customers are highly price sensitive.

 The restaurant and food service industry faces similar challenges. Rising costs of imported ingredients and equipment, combined with already narrow margins, can push small establishments into financial distress. Retail businesses, many of which rely on imported apparel, electronics, or household goods, are caught between higher supplier costs and customers unwilling or unable to absorb price increases.

 Transportation firms, particularly small trucking and logistics operations, also report higher expenses for parts and equipment sourced globally. As these costs mount, Black-owned businesses across sectors may confront difficult choices: reduce staff, scale back operations, or close altogether.

Geographically, these industries are often concentrated in urban centers where Black businesses form a critical part of local economies. Cities such as Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Detroit, and Houston have thriving ecosystems of Black-owned enterprises. However, their dependence on industries linked to global trade means they are disproportionately affected by tariff-driven price increases.

On the Friday decision, Morial, said the ruling was a “legally correct decision” because the president “took a chance, stretched the law, and got his hand slapped.”

Trump, however, was seething after the Supreme Court ruled his original tariffs grossly exceeded his legal authority. Despite Americans being hit with higher prices on everything from cars to groceries to construction material to electricity, Trump said the justices “didn’t do what was right for the country.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) acknowledged the American public’s pushback on Trump’s false affordability claims. “People know that this whole issue about affordability. He tried to deny that it was an issue. Because he saw gas is low, eggs [are] low,” Thompson said. Trump tried to convince Americans that “things are better. That is because he is a showman, he is not a statesman. We can disprove everything he is saying. Everybody who goes to the supermarket, they know the difference each time they go, and the products they buy are higher.“

Morial emphasized that the tariffs are not only hurtful to consumers but also to businesses that have been hit hard. Some businesses tried to absorb the costs of the tariffs, but many could not. Morial pointed to Ford Motors, which took a hit in its last quarter because of “aluminum and steel tariffs.”

Now the federal government has to decide how the $134 billion in collected tariffs, now sitting in the Treasury, will be disbursed to businesses and consumers. The justices in their ruling did not say what should happen to the money already collected. Morial believes there will be significant litigation, particularly “from consumer organizations,” to recoup the money the Supreme Court said Trump lacked the legal right to collect.

We could hope that the Supreme Court smacking his hand would serve as a lesson for Trump, but, as his retaliatory 15% global tariff shows, he just won’t learn. We should all remember that when he tries to sell us all a bill of good Tuesday night.

April Ryan, host of The Contrarian’s The Tea With April Ryan, is the longest-serving Black woman reporter in the White House press corps. She is the author of “Black Women Will Save the World,” “The Presidency in Black and White: My Up-Close View of Three Presidents and Race in America,” “Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House,” and “At Mama’s Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White.”

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