President Donald Trump has said any countries that wanted to "play games" after a key US Supreme Court tariff ruling that they would face much higher tariffs.
The court said tariffs Trump imposed last year based on an national emergency law were illegal, rekindling uncertainty from other countries about already signed or pending trade deals with the United States.
"Any Country that wants to 'play games' with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have 'Ripped Off' the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to. BUYER BEWARE!!!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Since the court decision, Trump has announced plans to impose a new 15-percent tariff on imports into the United States, a move that can last for 150 days while his administration works on more lasting actions.
Trump launched an extraordinary broadside of insults against the Supreme Court, claiming its "dumb" ruling limiting his trade tariffs had actually given him more powers.
Trump said in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform that Friday's court decision was "ridiculous, dumb, and very internationally divisive."
But he claimed, without clear explanation: "I can use Licenses to do absolutely 'terrible' things to foreign countries, especially those countries that have been RIPPING US OFF for many decades."
Demands for refund
After the court ruling, Democrats such as Governor JB Pritzker has sent Trump an invoice demanding nearly $9 billion in tariff refunds for Illinois families after the US Supreme Court ruled the president's much-touted levies are illegal.
Pritzker has urged the White House to "cut the check" after justices ruled 6-3 that Trump had exceeded his authority by invoking emergency powers to impose tariffs that reshaped global trade and pushed up prices at home.
Pritzker wasn't alone in seeking payback — both political and literal — for widespread consumer woes.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the money Trump's tariffs had raised came from US voters' pockets — and should be refunded.
"Time to pay the piper, Donald. These tariffs were nothing more than an illegal cash grab that drove up prices and hurt working families, so you could wreck longstanding alliances and extort them," he said.
"Every dollar unlawfully taken must be refunded immediately — with interest. Cough up!"
Pritzker and Newsom are widely seen as potential Democratic contenders in the 2028 presidential race.
Their demands add a populist flourish to a complicated legal and economic reality.
Announced with fanfare last April, Trump's tariffs have raised more than $130 billion from importers, with a significant proportion of that extra cost passed on to consumers through higher prices.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has expressed scepticism that ordinary Americans will see direct compensation.
The scale of potential repayments is vast. The influential Penn-Wharton Budget Model has estimated that refunds could total $175 billion, though it's unclear who would ultimately receive the money.
Trump has himself acknowledged that any refund process could take years.
That's a harsh shift for those who may have hoped for a tariff "dividend" check after the 79-year-old Republican repeatedly said last year that millions of Americans would get "a little rebate" because "we have so much money coming in."
