The Daily Fuckup

The Supreme Court took away one tariff theory on February 20. It did not stop the administration from trying others. In the weeks that followed, the White House imposed a temporary 10 percent import surcharge under Section 122, effective February 24, 2026, and set it to run through July 24 unless Congress extended it or the president changed course sooner. ([whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/02/imposing-a-temporary-import-surcharge-to-address-fundamental-international-payments-problems/))

That is where the uncertainty comes in for importers. The court held that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, rejecting the broad emergency-power approach the administration had been using. But the ruling left other trade tools intact, and the White House quickly turned to them instead of pausing tariff policy altogether. ([supremecourt.gov](https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1287_4gcj.pdf))

One of those tools showed up again on July 9, when the administration issued a Section 232 proclamation on commercial aircraft, jet engines, and aircraft and engine parts. The proclamation said the commerce secretary had recommended further negotiations with foreign trading partners and specifically recommended that no immediate tariffs be imposed under Section 232. It also said the president could consider other remedies later, depending on how those talks go. ([whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/07/adjusting-imports-of-commercial-aircraft-jet-engines-and-aircraft-and-engine-parts-into-the-united-states/))

So the post-ruling picture is not a clean reset. It is a rolling set of tariff moves with different legal hooks, different timelines, and different sectors. The temporary Section 122 surcharge still has a July 24 endpoint unless it is extended. The aircraft action points in a different direction, toward negotiations first and tariff decisions later. For businesses trying to price contracts and plan shipments, that is still a moving target. ([whitehouse.gov](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/02/imposing-a-temporary-import-surcharge-to-address-fundamental-international-payments-problems/))