In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump exceeded his authority when he used a 1977 emergency law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from nearly every country in the world. That law was written to let presidents freeze assets and impose sanctions during national emergencies. No president before Trump had ever used it to impose tariffs. The Court agreed he couldn’t either.

That decision immediately voids roughly 60% of the tariffs put in place in 2025, including the broad reciprocal tariffs and duties tied to border security declarations targeting Canada, Mexico and China.

The ruling didn’t catch the administration off guard. Within hours of the decision Friday, President Trump announced a new 10% global tariff under a different legal authority, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a law originally designed to protect the U.S. dollar during times of serious trade imbalances. By Saturday morning, he had raised that to 15%, the maximum allowed under Section 122.

Section 122 works differently from the IEEPA tariffs it is partially replacing. It applies to all imports globally and cannot be used to single out specific countries for higher rates. It is also temporary by design, lasting up to 150 days, after which Congress would need to act to extend it. That structure gives the administration time to pursue longer-term tariff authority through other legal channels, including investigations already underway that could result in more permanent, targeted measures down the road.

What this means for your electronics

Here is where it gets interesting for anyone who owns a smartphone, laptop or tablet, which these days is just about everyone.

The big electronics companies, Apple among them, largely absorbed their tariff costs in 2025 rather than passing them directly to consumers. That was a deliberate business decision, and it meant most people didn’t see a dramatic jump in the price of their devices over the past year, as companies absorbed billions in additional costs. Apple’s CEO told investors the company spent $900 million on tariff costs in a single quarter alone.

Now that the IEEPA tariffs have been struck down, you might expect those costs to drop. But here is the part that often gets lost in the headlines: Prices don’t automatically fall just because a tariff disappears. Companies set prices based on what the market will bear, and any savings are far more likely to flow back into recovering what was spent in 2025 than into lower prices at the store. The inventory on store shelves today was priced before the ruling, and retailers have no obligation to change that.

As for the new 15% global tariff replacing much of what was struck down, it should not apply to your devices. The White House proclamation specifically exempts certain electronics from the new Section 122 tariff. That means your phone, laptop and tablet should be shielded from the replacement tariff. Whether that exemption holds as longer-term tariff policy takes shape remains to be seen.

The bigger picture

The administration has made clear that tariffs will remain a central part of its trade strategy regardless of which legal authority is used to impose them. Section 301 investigations into unfair trade practices by major trading partners are already underway on an accelerated timeline, and those could produce new, more targeted tariffs in the months ahead.

What that means for consumers is that the landscape will keep evolving. The goal behind the tariff policy, encouraging domestic production and rebalancing trade relationships that many Americans feel have worked against U.S. workers for decades, hasn’t changed. The tools being used to get there are simply being adjusted to work within the boundaries the Court has now set.

As always in tech, the situation is worth watching. But now you know what to expect. Electronics are in a protected category for the moment, and the administration has every intention of keeping tariffs as a central tool of trade policy. As for prices coming down, don’t count on it. The companies that absorbed billions in tariff costs throughout 2025 will most likely use any relief to recoup those losses rather than pass savings along to consumers. The headlines may change week to week. Your price tag probably won’t.

Leslie Meredith has been writing about technology for more than a decade. As a mom of four, value, usefulness and online safety take priority. Have a question? Email Leslie at asklesliemeredith@gmail.com.