Trump defends tariffs days after SCOTUS ruling: ‘Will replace tax system, ease burden on Americans’

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he believed the tariffs paid by foreign countries would, as in the past, largely replace the current income tax system, thereby easing the significant financial burden on the people he cares about.

“As time goes by, I believe that tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love,” Trump said in the State of the Union address.

US Supreme Court on Friday ruled against most of Trump's sweeping tariff measures. Trump later signed an order imposing a 10 per cent global tariff on all countries, effective "almost immediately".

The Court ruled 6-3 that the administration exceeded its authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 to impose broad-based import tariffs, affirming that the power to levy taxes resides primarily with Congress.

Following the ruling, Trump announced a new 10 per cent global tariff on all countries under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, describing it as a temporary import surcharge (up to 15%) allowed for 150 days to address balance-of-payments deficits.

He later raised it further to the "fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level," effective immediately.

In a Truth Social post, Trump stated that this adjustment responds to the Supreme Court's "ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision," while his administration would determine new, legally permissible tariffs in the coming months to continue "Making America Great Again."

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