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Trump's Tariffs Struck Down by SCOTUS, Trump Says Iran Has Days, More
20 Feb 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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News when you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Dan Schwartzman. The Supreme Court has struck down President Trump's sweeping global tariffs. In a six to three ruling, the court said Trump exceeded his authority by invoking a federal emergency powers law to impose his, quote, reciprocal tariffs across the globe, as well as targeted import taxes.
The administration says address fentanyl trafficking. Jennifer Hillman, Georgetown law professor and former vice chair of the U.S. Internal Trade Commission and a former member of the World Trade Organization appellate body says this is a win for America.
This is a big victory for American consumers, but I would argue from a legal perspective that it's an even bigger victory for the U.S. Constitution. Because what this is basically saying is the court is acknowledging that the Constitution gives to the Congress, not to the president, the power to impose tariffs.
And so this ruling is saying that the president cannot use this IEPA statute that doesn't even have the word tariff or duty in it to somehow turn it into a tariff statute.
That's Georgetown Law Professor Jennifer Hillman. The Supreme Court ruling against President Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act lowers the average U.S. effective tariff rate from 13.6 percent down to 6.5 percent. That's still higher than the 2.3 percent rate when Trump took office last January.
The administration has indicated it intends to move quickly to replace many of the tariffs through other authorities. Dorsey and Whitney Trade Attorney Dave Townsend says there's one thing that was surprising about this opinion.
how definitive it was with respect to the statutory interpretation question. The lower courts had been maybe a bit more measured. They had said that the use of the IEPA authority had exceeded what IEPA was intended to permit. And the Supreme Court, it looks to me, went one step further and said that the language of the statute doesn't permit tariffs full stop.
That's Dorsey and Whitney Trade Attorney Dave Townsend. David Weston of Bloomberg Wall Street Week, who also clerked for Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, asks an important question now that the ruling has come down.
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Chapter 2: What are the implications of the Supreme Court's ruling on Trump's tariffs?
I don't know. The estimates I see was $134 billion as of December. The estimates now, I think, are like a $170 billion that might be refunded here.
That's David Weston of Bloomberg Wall Street Week. Markets reacting to the Supreme Court ruling striking down President Trump's tariffs, with the Dow gaining around a tenth of a percent, the S&P up close to a half percent, while the Nasdaq has gained over eight-tenths of one percent.
The 10-year Treasury yield is at 4.091, the two years at 3.483, gold trading at $5,070 an ounce, while Bitcoin is at close to $67,300. President Trump speaking to reporters at the opening of a breakfast with governors at the White House says he is considering limited strikes on Iran as a way to ramp up pressure on the regime to make a deal to limit its nuclear program. The U.S.
military has been building up a massive armada in the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, hundreds of fighter jets and refueling tankers, along with thousands of troops. The president has said Iran has 10 to 15 days to strike a deal over its nuclear program. The U.S.
economy grew less than expected at the end of last year, dragged down by a record-long government shutdown, consumer spending, and trade. Bloomberg's Michael McKee with more details.
Now the inflation numbers, the price index on a month-over-month basis up four-tenths. On a year-over-year basis, it goes up from 2.8% to 2.9%, so a rise in the headline. The core up four-tenths, and the core year-over-year index, is up to 3% from 2.8%. That is something that does not look particularly good if the Fed wants to cut interest rates again.
That's Bloomberg's Michael McKee. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said the reduction in federal services during the shutdown subtracted about one percentage point from GDP, which contradicted President Trump, who posted on social media an hour before the release of the data that the shutdown would cost the U.S., quote, at least two points in GDP. U.S.
consumer sentiment rising less than expected in February as optimism among wealthier Americans was offset by declining confidence among those who haven't benefited from stock market gains. People's perception of their current financial situation did improve in February, but 46% of consumers mentioned that high prices were eroding their personal finances.
Jeffrey Epstein's estate and its two co-executors have agreed to pay as much as $35 million to resolve outstanding legal claims of his victims who have not already reached settlements. The proposed settlement plan is intended to resolve all remaining claims with a class of women who say they were abused sexually or trafficked by Epstein between 1995 and 2019.
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Chapter 3: How does the ruling affect U.S. consumers and tariff rates?
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