The world’s attention veers to the US Supreme Court on Wednesday (November 5), when it will begin hearing the challenges to US President Donald Trump’s power to use an emergency law to impose high tariffs on countries without the US Congress’s approval.

For the first time in US history, a president has invoked the Internal Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 to impose high “reciprocal” tariffs since February 2, 2025 (he called it the “liberation day”) on a number of countries, including India.

Why expectations are low

The judgement is not expected before January 2026 and the expectations are very low for two major reasons.

One, as news agency Reuters quoted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as saying on Tuesday, Trump has the options to “switch” to other tariff authorities,

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