Trump Retains Power to Halt Spain Trade After IEEPA Tariff Ruling
U.S. Trade Rep. Greer says Trump can still use IEEPA to cut off trade with Spain despite the Supreme Court striking down broad tariffs.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed this week that President Donald Trump retains the legal authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to halt trade with Spain, even after the Supreme Court struck down the sweeping import tariffs Trump had imposed on nearly every country using that same law. The statement signals the White House is not ready to abandon IEEPA as a tool of economic pressure, even as its most aggressive application has been curtailed by the nation's highest court.
Trump had originally invoked IEEPA to justify levying broad tariffs across dozens of trading partners, arguing the statute gave him sweeping unilateral power to impose import duties in response to a declared national emergency. The Supreme Court's decision rejected that specific use of the law, dealing a significant blow to one of the administration's signature trade policy instruments and leaving hundreds of billions of dollars in proposed tariff revenue in legal limbo.
Read more Trump Targets 60 Trade Partners With New Sweeping Tariffs →
However, Greer's remarks suggest the administration believes the Court's ruling was narrowly tailored to the tariff mechanism itself, and that other IEEPA-based trade restrictions — including the outright suspension of commerce with specific nations like Spain — remain legally viable. That interpretation, if tested in court, could set up another major constitutional showdown over the scope of presidential emergency powers in trade policy.
The distinction matters enormously for U.S. trading partners and American businesses that import or export goods. A full trade halt with any country would be far more disruptive than tariffs, potentially cutting off supply chains overnight rather than simply raising costs at the border. Markets and industry groups are likely to watch closely for any concrete executive action targeting Spain or other nations under this revised legal theory.
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