‘If tariffs are such a good idea…’: Indian-origin lawyer Neal Katyal challenges Trump’s 15% global levy

Neal Katyal, the Indian-origin lawyer who successfully challenged President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs at the US Supreme Court has now cast fresh doubt on the legality of the administration’s new 15 per cent import levy.Katyal, a former Acting Solicitor General under Barack Obama, said it would be “hard for the President to rely on the 15 percent statute (sec 122)” after the government previously argued that the provision did not apply to trade deficits. His remarks came after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s earlier tariffs imposed under emergency powers.In a post on X, Katyal wrote: “Seems hard for the President to rely on the 15 percent statute (sec 122) when his DOJ in our case told the Court the opposite: ‘Nor does [122] have any obvious application here, where the concerns the President identified in declaring an emergency arise from trade deficits, which are conceptually distinct from balance-of-payments deficits.’”He added: “If he wants sweeping tariffs, he should do the American thing and go to Congress. If his tariffs are such a good idea, he should have no problem persuading Congress. That’s what our Constitution requires.”

Supreme Court setback for Trump

The comments follow a 6–3 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States which found that Trump had exceeded his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose broad-based tariffs.

The majority held that the Constitution vests the power to levy taxes in Congress, not the executive branch.Trump reacted angrily, calling the decision “incorrect” and criticising the justices who ruled against him. He nevertheless announced a new 10 per cent global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, later raising it to the “fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level”.Katyal, who represented small businesses challenging the tariffs, described the ruling as a constitutional milestone.

“It’s a reaffirmation of our deepest constitutional values and the idea that Congress, not any one man, controls the power to tax the American people,” he said after the judgment.Born in Chicago to Indian immigrant parents, Katyal has argued dozens of cases before the Supreme Court and is now a partner at Milbank in Washington DC. Following the verdict, he wrote: “Thinking of my father first and foremost, who came to this land of freedom….May the Constitution win.”His latest intervention signals that the legal battle over Trump’s trade policy may be far from over.