Tariff extensions off the table for Senate Democrats as Trump rages over Supreme Court loss

WASHINGTON (CN) — Senate Democrats said Monday they would block any effort to extend a new round of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump over the weekend, effectively dooming the White House’s latest set of import duties to expire this summer.

It’s a move that comes just days after the president said he would use alternative methods to continue unilaterally imposing tariffs on foreign countries following a Supreme Court ruling that blocked him from taking such action without congressional approval.

Trump on Saturday signed an executive order implementing a temporary 10% global tariff on goods imported into the U.S. from abroad. As legal backing for the new trade restrictions, the White House cited Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, a provision which allows the president to impose temporary tariffs as a response to economic instability.

Hours after he announced the new tariffs, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that he was hiking the rate to 15%, the maximum allowed under his Section 122 authority.

But according to the law, the White House can only impose Section 122 tariffs for a period of 150 days unless Congress approves an extension. Without such action from lawmakers, Trump’s latest tariff regime would likely expire sometime in July.

And in a statement Monday morning, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer poured cold water on the idea that Congress could vote to extend the Section 122 duties.

“Senate Democrats will continue to fight back against Trump’s tariff tax and will block any attempt to extend these harmful tariffs when they expire this summer,” said Schumer. “Democrats will not go along with furthering Trump’s economic carnage.”

Thanks to the Senate filibuster, Republicans would likely need a handful of Democratic votes to pass any legislation aimed at extending the Section 122 tariffs.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump unveiled his latest set of import duties just hours after the Supreme Court ruled Friday that he could not claim emergency authority to impose unilateral tariffs. The administration in April implemented a sweeping tariff regime which it said was backed up by the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act — Trump at the time declared a national emergency over what he called “large and persistent” trade deficits.

The justices, however, said in their 6-3 decision that the president could not claim the “extraordinary power” to set tariffs of unlimited value, duration and scope, writing that the Constitution requires the executive to “identify clear congressional authorization” for such authority.

Trump was furious with Friday’s ruling, calling it “ridiculous” and “anti-American,” and slamming several of the high court’s conservative justices for siding with the majority. But he and the White House also claimed that the decision only barred the administration from implementing tariffs under IEEPA and that the court had effectively permitted the president to set new import duties via other means.

In a social media post Monday, Trump argued that the Supreme Court had “accidentally and unwittingly” gave him “far more powers and strength that I had prior to their dumb, and very intentionally divisive ruling.”

“The court has also approved all other tariffs, of which there are many, and they can all be used in a much more powerful and obnoxious way, with legal certainty, than the tariffs as initially used,” the president wrote.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday, some Republican members of Congress appeared to support Trump using alternative legal means to implement tariffs without their involvement. Kansas Senator Roger Marshall said the president should use “every tool available to fight for American workers,” and Florida Representative Carlos Gimenez specifically pointed to Section 122 authority as one possible route for the White House to take.

But others urged their colleagues to affirm their authority over tariff policy. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who pointed out that he was one of the only current lawmakers serving when IEEPA was made law, said Friday that Congress needed to “reassert its constitutional role over commerce.”

Trump, meanwhile, is expected to speak before Congress on Tuesday night for his State of the Union address. It’s unclear whether the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling will play a major role in his remarks — a group of the high court justices typically attend the president’s speech in person.

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