The ruling invalidates country-specific “reciprocal tariffs” and fentanyl-linked duties imposed on imports from major trading partners, he said.
The decision effectively renders recent trade deals initiated or concluded by the United States with the UK, Japan, the EU, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and India one-sided and useless. Partner countries may now find reasons to dump these deals, Srivastava said.
Trump could attempt to reimpose similar tariffs under Section 301 or Section 232, but those statutes require new investigations and public justification, delaying action and inviting further legal challenges. Also, such measures cannot serve as a universal enforcement tool, he noted.
This ruling against Trump would reassert Congress’s primacy in trade policy, sharply curbing presidential latitude to weaponize tariffs and reshaping how future administrations wield emergency economic powers, Srivastava said.
Removal of reciprocal tariffs will free about 55 per cent of India’s exports to the U.S. from the 18 per cent duty, leaving them subject only to standard MFN tariffs, he said.
On the remaining exports, (i) Section 232 tariffs will continue 50 per cent on steel and aluminium and 25 per cent on certain auto components while (ii) products accounting for roughly 40 per cent of export value, including smartphones, petroleum products and medicines, will remain exempt from U.S. tariffs., Srivastava said.
