America’s trade chaos is just beginning

Finance & economics | After IEEPAAmerica’s trade chaos is just beginningTariff wrangling will stretch through the rest of Donald Trump’s term, and beyondShareIllustration: Ben Hickey Feb 26th 2026|Washington, DC|6 min readThe moment was historic. On February 20th America’s Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump’s signature policy. The president claimed the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 let him slap any tariffs he wanted on anyone for any length of time. The justices ruled 6-3 that Congress did not hide in IEEPA “a delegation of its birth-right power to tax within the quotidian power to ‘regulate’”, as Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. Already have an account?Log in Continue with a free trial Get full access to our independent journalism for free Free trial Or create a free account to unlock just this article Create account Explore moreShareReuse this contentThe Economist TodayHandpicked stories, in your inboxA daily newsletter with the best of our journalismSign upYes, I agree to receive exclusive content, offers and updates to products and services from The Economist Group. I can change these preferences at any time.More from Finance & economicsProtectionists dislike trade and migration. And capital flows?The amount of money crossing borders has flattened off—but not because of capital controls Free ExchangeWhy Chinese people spend so much on food A 21st-century test of a 19th-century observationAmerica’s welfare state is more European than you think State-level policies are making up for stingy federal provisionA viral research note on AI gets its economics wrongToo much of a good thingThe AI productivity boom is not here (yet)Artificial intelligence is improving fast.