House Speaker Says Congress Will Work With Trump on Tariffs Soon

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that Congress and the Trump administration would find a path forward on tariffs, coming after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the policy on Feb. 20.

Responding to the Supreme Court ruling, Johnson wrote in a post on X that the import taxes had “brought in billions of dollars and created immense leverage for America’s trade strategy.”

In the Supreme Court ruling, a 6–3 majority found that it’s unconstitutional for the president to unilaterally set and change tariffs and that taxation power belongs to Congress. “Congress and the Administration will determine the best path forward in the coming weeks,” Johnson wrote in the post.

President Donald Trump said on Friday afternoon that his administration would use “other alternatives” to impose tariffs after the Supreme Court ruled against his tariffs under a 1977 emergency law earlier on Feb. 20.

“We have other alternatives,” Trump said in a news conference on Friday, offering a response to the Supreme Court decision. He said on multiple occasions that the Supreme Court’s decision is flawed and questioned the six justices’ rationale.

He then reiterated that the administration has “very powerful alternatives … that have been approved by this decision,” he said, adding that the tariffs have bolstered national security and brought in significant revenue to the United States.

The majority found that the Constitution “very clearly” gives Congress the power to impose taxes, which include tariffs. “The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

Trump said that the tariffs, in part, were used as leverage to reach peace deals, diffusing five out of eight armed conflicts around the world. The tariffs have also been used against Mexico, China, and Canada to curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States, Trump also said.

During his news conference, Trump praised Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh for writing a dissent that backed the tariff imposition under the emergency law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), and noted that the Supreme Court did not rule against tariffs but just the imposition of tariffs under the law.

“The tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy. But as a matter of text, history, and precedent, they are clearly lawful,” Kavanaugh wrote in the dissent.

Democrats in Congress praised the court’s decision on Friday. Senate Minority Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement provided to media outlets that the ruling will “finally give families and small businesses the relief they deserve” and added that Trump should end “this reckless trade war for good.”

“We’ve said from day one: a president cannot ignore Congress and unilaterally slap tariffs on Americans,” the Senate Democratic leader said.

As of December 2025, federal data show that the Treasury Department had collected more than $133 billion from the tariffs through Customs and Border Protection. The tariffs, meanwhile, were estimated to have an economic impact of some $3 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.