Last week, the Court of International Trade in the USA ruled that the Liberty Day tariffs were illegal. The government immediately announced it would appeal to the Supreme Court, and is keeping the tariffs in place until the case is heard.
Not just keeping them in place, but expanding them. Steel and aluminium is not included in the ruling. As such, the president impulsively decided to raise tariffs to 50%. Just like that.
There was a big splash last month, as the USA announced a trade deal with the UK. Whether this is still valid, or whether the USA is already reneging on an agreement is not clear.
What the Supreme Court will do is anybody’s guess. On the one hand, they allow the government to do virtually anything on procedural grounds. On the other, this policy is extremely damaging.
They recently ruled that the president could sack basically anybody, but not the Chair of the Federal Reserve. There was no particularly good reason for this, but they know that sacking this person on a whim will cause economic armageddon. They know they are dealing with a bad man and will take the necessary steps to stop him from making too much of a mess.
In this sense, the Supreme Court is doing an excellent job of protecting capital and property, while doing nothing to protect humans from the ravages of the villains in charge. I think this might be the root of the problem in the country.