Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Congress on Friday hailed US Supreme Court’s ruling on President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on different countries and said that the verdict shows that “American system of checks and balances still seems to be working.“Hours after the US Supreme Court delivered a 6-3 verdict invalidating tariffs imposed by Trump, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Hats off to the US Supreme Court for striking down President Trump’s entire tariff strategy! Quite an amazing decision given its ideological composition. A 6-3 verdict is decisive.”“The American system of checks and balances still seems to be working,” he added.Veteran Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram also demanded that the government must explain the impact of the judgment on the “deal” that was announced on February 6 between the US and India.Chidambaram said he had stated that if the Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s imposition of tariffs, the result would be that the US and India would revert to the status quo ante of before April 2, 2025.“Meanwhile, the US has extracted several concessions from India without conceding any. What will happen to those concessions? The joint statement announced Zero tariff on many goods that the US will export to India; that India intends to import USD 500 billion worth of goods from the U.S.; that India will not buy Russian oil; that India will address the non-tariff barriers to U.S. goods, and so on,” the former finance minister said.“What will happen to those promises? An Indian team is now in the U.S. to finalise the text of the Framework Agreement. What will the team do now?” Chidambaram said.The US Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs, handing him a significant loss on an issue crucial to his economic agenda.The 6-3 decision centred on tariffs imposed under an emergency powers law, including the sweeping reciprocal tariffs Trump levied on nearly every other country.The majority found that the Constitution very clearly gives the Congress the power to impose taxes, which include tariffs. Trump, however, said “nothing changes” in the trade deal with India in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict and responded to the ruling by announcing an additional 10 per cent global levies on items imported into the US.Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court justices who ruled against him, calling them “fools and lapdogs”. “The Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing, and I’m ashamed of certain members of the Court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump said in a news conference at the White House Friday, just hours after the verdict came in.
