Free Trade

Trump's Newest Tariffs Are Likely Illegal Too

The Section 301 tariffs announced on Thursday overstep the powers granted by Congress and likely run afoul of the major questions doctrine.

Eric Boehm | 7.24.2026 12:50 PM

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The latest evolution of President Donald Trump's trade war arrived on Thursday evening: New tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 12.5 percent, targeting most of America's largest trading partners.

Those new tariffs replace the so-called "global tariff" of 10 percent that Trump implemented in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling in February that struck down an earlier set of tariffs. That "global tariff" had been implemented under the auspices of a law that grants the president power to impose temporary tariffs that last no more than 150 days—in other words, that was always a stop-gap solution, and the tariffs announced Thursday are meant to be a more permanent arrangement.

But like the first round of tariffs and the second round of temporary tariffs, this third round of tariffs has some obvious legal and constitutional deficiencies. In levying these new tariffs, the Trump administration is once again ignoring limits that are written into the very law it is seeking to use. It is also disregarding the constitutional principle that the Supreme Court highlighted in its February ruling on the earlier tariffs.

In short: Trump's new tariffs are likely illegal too. But it will probably require another lengthy court battle to overturn them.

Let's take the two issues one by one, starting with the statutory shortcomings.

Trump is invoking Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose these new tariffs. Starting today, imports from 17 American trade partners (including Canada, Mexico, and the European Union) will be subject to 10 percent tariffs. Imports from another 43 trading partners will be subject to 12.5 percent tariffs.

Ostensibly, these........

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