February 20th, 2026Albuquerque Business First: US Supreme Court rules against Trump’s tariffs, but it's too late for some local businesses

Tariffs President Trump issued under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act are illegal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday — but businesses can expect tariffs to continue, the president said shortly after. In fact, he indicated that even higher taxes can be expected now, and the U.S. government can expect even more revenue.
Ina 6-3 decisionauthored by Chief Justice John Roberts, it was found that the Constitution “very clearly” gives Congress the power to impose taxes, which include tariffs. The Trump administration had argued that trade deficits and illegal drug imports granted it emergency power to levy tariffs.
Hours after the decision, Trump held a briefing where he said would sign an order to impose a 10% global tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, and he said his team is investigating several other measures that wouldn't relate to the Economic Emergency Powers Act.
Translation: There's still a lot of uncertainty, something of which businesses leaders have struggled with in the past year. Will the government be forced to repay the roughly $200 billion in tariff money collected last year? Will customers and business-to-business clients who passed on tariffs demand refunds? What's a business to do with all the new systems and processes set up in the last year due to the tariffs? Questions abound.
Business leaders across the countrycited the unpredictability of tariffsas one reason why 2025 would remain challenging to small businesses.
Trump’s promise to impose new tariffs in different ways echoed what BOK Financial Chief Investment Strategist Steve Wyetttold Albuquerque Business First last fall.
“We’re not going back to no tariffs,” he said at the time. “This administration views tariffs as a source of revenue.”
For some companies, it’s already too late. Annapurna, a vegetarian restaurant concept mainstay in the Albuquerque area,cited increased costsfrom tariffs as one reason why they shuttered a location.
“We specialize in a vegan and an anti-allergy diet, and we have to procure some of our products from countries that have been hit with tariffs 50% in excess,” owner Yoshida Naidoo told Albuquerque Business First. “It’s been hard.”
New Mexico’s two U.S. Senators weighed in on the decision, lauding the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court’s decision today upholds the law, but it doesn’t undo the damage these tariffs have already inflicted,” U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M, said. Heinrich vowed to fight any efforts to impose new tariffs.
“This Supreme Court decision is an important step forward,” U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., said. “Now, the Trump administration must provide certainty to American small businesses by refunding the costs they have endured and take real steps to repair our economic relationships around the world.”