The U.S. Supreme Court could potentially rule that President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs are unlawful, which would create a major obstacle for his strategy to purchase Greenland.
President Trump issued his most recent threat to acquire Greenland late last night, stating: “Now it is time, and it will be done!!!”
Earlier, on Saturday, he warned that he would implement tariffs starting at 10% and increasing to 25% on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland, with the increase to 25% scheduled for June 1.
However, analysts pointed out this morning that the court is scheduled to release decisions on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The prevailing view on Wall Street is that the court will decide the president lacks the authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy tariffs on standard international trade. Such a ruling would render Trump’s threats ineffective, at least for the immediate future.
“Threatened U.S. tariffs … may be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court,” UBS informed clients in a communication this morning.
Analysts Carsten Brzeski and Bert Colijn at ING commented, “If the Supreme Court rules against all earlier IEEPA tariffs, Trump’s latest announcement [about Greenland] would be void, and he would have to find other tariffs. Something that would take more time.”
The decision was anticipated earlier this month. The postponement has led to speculation that the court, which seemed doubtful of the White House’s case during oral arguments. The court is known for taking more time to deliver its significant, surprising rulings.
“While the Court is positioned to issue additional opinions this week—sessions are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday—our economists’ expectation is that the ruling may not come until later in the year, potentially as late as June,” Jim Reid and his colleagues stated in their morning note.