Donald Trump Defends US Tariffs With Big Income Tax Promise, Calls Supreme Court Blow 'Unfortunate'

Washington: In his annual State of the Union (SOTU) address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump justified his use of tariffs and said that he had used global tariffs to make ‘great deals’ for the country, especially on the frontiers of economy as well as national security.  

Calling the recent Supreme Court order ‘very unfortunate’ Trump said, “Everything was working well. Countries which were ripping us off for decades were now paying us hundreds and billions of dollars. Even the Democrats knew it.”

However, Trump claimed that US trading partners want to keep the deal that they already made. “The good news is that almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made. Knowing that the legal power that I, as President, have to make a new deal could be far worse for them, and therefore, they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court's unfortunate involvement," he added. 

The US President also went on to say that he believes that taiffs paid by foreign countries will replace the modern system of income tax. “As time goes by, I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love,” he said. 

US Supreme Court Order Recently Struck Down Tariffs

The US Supreme Court recently in a 6-3 decision, had ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize President Trump to levy broad import duties. The majority held that while the law allows the executive to regulate certain economic transactions during a national emergency, it does not explicitly grant authority to impose sweeping tariffs, a power that the Constitution assigns to Congress. Shortly after the Supreme Court ruling.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion. He was joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and the court’s three liberal members: Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. In dissent, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh sided with the administration’s broader interpretation of emergency powers.

Hours after the Supreme Court ruling, the White House had taken to social media platform X in a move of defiance. “Keep calm and tariff on," the White House's post on X read on Saturday. 

How The Trump's Tariff Regime Impacted India

The shifting tariff regime has directly affected global economies including India. The India–US trade ties over the past year has gone through significant changes due to Trump's imposition of tariffs.

In February 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump had set a target of $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. However, tensions escalated in April when Washington imposed a 26 per cent tariff on Indian goods, later raising duties to as high as 50 per cent by August amid disputes, especially over India’s purchase of Russian oil. After multiple rounds of negotiations in late 2025, the two sides agreed on an interim trade deal on February 2, 2026, limiting US tariffs on Indian exports to 18 per cent, while India cut tariffs on US goods to zero.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Trump announced a uniform 10 per cent global tariff on February 20. According to a White House official quoted by ANI, India would now be subject to the 10 per cent rate “until another authority is invoked,” even as questions remain over how the interim trade deal will be rendered functional.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had earlier that said the overarching theme of the President's address today, will be the nation’s 250th anniversary. During his address, Trump also said that inflation was receding in the country, and claimed that US stock markets have done well under him.