WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled against the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs, which have significantly impacted the pleasure industry, prompting the president to announce a new tariff strategy as a workaround.
As XBIZ reported last year, the Trump administration’s sharp escalation of import taxes, especially on goods from China, have had strong negative effects on the sex toy business.
In May 2025, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump exceeded his authority by imposing the broad “Liberation Day” tariff regime. The administration appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which granted a temporary stay of the trade court’s decision.
Friday’s ruling, by a vote of 6 to 3, rejected Trump’s claim that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 grants him the authority to impose the broad regimen of import levies.
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote the opinion for the court. Justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh dissented.
The ruling notes that the government interprets the IEEPA as granting the president power to unilaterally impose unlimited tariffs “and change them at will.”
“That view would represent a transformative expansion of the President’s authority over tariff policy,” the ruling reads. “It is also telling that in IEEPA’s half century of existence, no President has invoked the statute to impose any tariffs, let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope.”
The “lack of historical precedent” and the “breadth of authority” Trump claimed, the ruling continues, suggest that the tariffs extend beyond the President’s “legitimate reach.”
“Our task today,” the court’s opinion concludes, “is to decide only whether the power to ‘regulate . . . importation,’ as granted to the President in IEEPA, embraces the power to impose tariffs. It does not.”
Responding to the ruling, Trump promptly announced via Truth Social that he would impose a "Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately."
This new measure invokes the president's power under another relatively obscure law, the Trade Act of 1974. Under that law, the president can levy tariffs for up to 150 days without congressional approval.
