For decades, the world’s most valuable American export was not a physical commodity or a digital service. It was the reliable predictability of the U.S. legal system. That certainty premium, the bedrock on which the global “Pax Americana” was built, is currently evaporating. On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court didn’t just strike down a tariff in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump. It effectively told the White House that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is no longer a blank check for economic policy.

The President’s immediate response—invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to slap an escalating 15 percent duty on imports by February 24—is being framed as a show of strength. In reality, it is a sign of a presidency trapped in a loop of executive overreach and judicial correction. This is no longer just a trade war with China. The commander-in-chief, who views the law as a suggestion, has launched a domestic cold war against a court that has finally decided to act as a constitutional gatekeeper. The chaos is compounded by the fact that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains in a partial shutdown, leaving the very Customs and Border Protection officers tasked........

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