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Charlebois: If we don’t reform supply management, Washington will do it for us

Whether Canada likes it or not, tariffs are now the new American trajectory

The U.S. Supreme Court was unequivocal: The tariffs imposed under the Trump administration were unconstitutional in their legal rationale. That distinction matters. The court did not declare tariffs themselves illegitimate. It rejected the justification used to impose them.

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In response, President Donald Trump invoked Article 122 and imposed a blanket 15% tariff on all goods entering the United States. The signal could not be clearer: Tariffs are not going away. They are being re-engineered.

Since early 2025, Washington has collected roughly $130 billion in tariff revenues. The court offered no guidance on what should happen to those funds. Thousands of American companies will undoubtedly challenge their assessments, but the broader message from the court — particularly reflected in Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s dissent — is that tariffs are likely to remain a structural feature of U.S. trade policy, regardless of who occupies the White House.

This decision was not partisan theatre. A Republican-dominated court ruled against a Republican president. That adds credibility. The ruling was procedural, not philosophical. The White House now has 150 days to construct a more defensible economic and legal framework to justify tariffs — and it will. The American........

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