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Trump Delivers Remarks on the Supreme Court's Tariff Decision, Feb. 20, 2026

February 20, 2026 · The White House · 0:45:20

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump addressed the Supreme Court’s ruling against his emergency-authority tariffs at the White House on February 20, 2026, in a statement and press question session. “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,” he said, thanking Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh for their dissents: “When you read the dissenting opinions, there’s no way that anyone can argue against them.”

His response, as he announced it: the other tariff authorities — the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232), the Trade Act of 1974 (Sections 122, 201, and 301), and the Tariff Act of 1930 (Section 338) — were, he said, recognized by the court itself and by Congress. “Effective immediately, all national security tariffs under section 232 and existing section 301 tariffs… remain in place, fully in place and in full force and effect. Today, I will sign an order to impose a 10% global tariff” under Section 122. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, invited to comment, confirmed that Section 122 “will be signed today and implemented very shortly” and that Section 301 investigations — “incredibly legally durable” — would follow. The President said the 10 percent rate would run while, over about five months, the administration completed the investigations needed “to put fair tariffs… on other countries,” and that end-state rates could be “potentially higher.”

In questions he defended the tariff program’s revenue and its use as leverage — relaying, as he stated it, the Prime Minister of Pakistan’s claim that he had saved 35 million lives by threatening 200 percent tariffs to stop a war — and closed by saying “great certainty has been brought back to the economy of the United States.”

Why it matters

This press conference is the administration’s same-day answer to the loss of its emergency tariff authority: the legal pivot to Sections 232, 301, and 122, and the new 10 percent global baseline, were all announced here, four days before the President told Congress in the State of the Union that the deals would “remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes.” It is recorded on the Economy, Tariffs & Trade hub.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: a signing announced on camera — the Section 122 order imposing a 10 percent global tariff — alongside the stated continuity of Section 232 and existing Section 301 tariffs. The scoreboard entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Delivers Remarks, Feb. 20, 2026,” The White House, February 20, 2026 (official upload, embedded above). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President and U.S. Trade Representative Greer at the event.