Supreme Checkmate: High Court Dismantles Trump’s Tariff Masterplan
How the Supreme Court’s rejection of sweeping emergency tariffs inadvertently saved the North American critical minerals supply chain from chaos.
If you thought the Supreme Court’s smackdown of sweeping global trade taxes was just about retail goods and auto parts, you haven't been looking underground. While the initial headlines surrounding the rejection of President Donald Trump’s tariffs focused heavily on consumer electronics and border checkpoints, the ruling is actually a tectonic shift for the global mining sector and the highly sensitive North American critical minerals supply chain.
For years, Washington and Ottawa have been attempting to build a united, cross-border fortress around critical minerals, essential elements like copper, nickel, and lithium that power everything from electric vehicle batteries to artificial intelligence infrastructure and national defense systems. Imposing arbitrary, emergency tariffs on these very materials was widely viewed by industry experts as a massive, self-inflicted wound. Canada alone exported roughly $4 billion of copper and $1.5 billion of nickel to the U.S. recently. Had the 35 percent emergency levies under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) remained intact, they would have severely choked this vital pipeline, driving up costs for American downstream manufacturers and hampering the push to counter China's dominance in the sector.

