U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the National Governors Association Evening Dinner and Reception in the East Room of the White House on February 21, 2026 in Washington, DC, U.S.
Al Drago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down much of President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, which were invoked based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
But the White House leader didn’t take the decision lying down. Hours later, Trump announced on Truth Social that he’d be leveraging a new act, Section 122, to impose 10% tariffs globally — and one day later hiked them to 15%.
In response, the European Commission said Sunday that it would not accept any increase in tariffs. “A deal is a deal,” the EC said, according to Reuters. For its part, the U.S. would not alter the trade deals that it has struck with its partners, trade representative Jamieson Greer told CBS on Sunday.
There have already been geopolitical repercussions of the ruling. India will be delaying its planned trade visit to Washington, D.C., to evaluate the implications of the ruling, a source told CNBC.
For critics of tariffs, it looks like the situation has moved one step forward, two steps back.
Indeed, futures tied to U.S. stocks fell Sunday night stateside. Asia-Pacific markets, however, mostly shrugged off the uncertainty and rose Monday.
“Sit on hands and do nothing, this is just noise, there will be something new to worry about within a few days,” said Hugh Dive, chief investment officer at Atlas Funds Management.
Elsewhere, the U.S. and Iran will be having their next round of talks on Thursday in Geneva, according to an AP report, citing Oman’s foreign minister. A deal was not reached during the previous discussion because Washington and Tehran had different ideas on what sanctions relief could look like, an Iranian official told Reuters.
Even as we begin Monday already with a flurry of tariff and geopolitical developments, all eyes will be trained on one event this week: Nvidia’s earnings, out Wednesday stateside, which comes amid some tumult in the artificial intelligence sector. Investors will hope CEO Jensen Huang can provide some insight into not just the sector’s spending, but how AI is being deployed — and is being used to augment, or supersede, other services.
What you need to know today
Key takeaways from the Supreme Court decision: The economic impact is expected to be limited; inflation could be muted in the near term; it might provide tailwind to markets; tariff refunds will likely be messy. Last, and most crucially, tariffs aren’t going away.
China gains negotiating leverage from court dismissal of tariffs, ahead of a summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Trump, analysts said. But while Trump’s tariff authority may be somewhat diminished, he could deploy non-tariff measures, such as technology export controls, as negotiating tools, experts said.
Bitcoin fell as much as 5% to below $65,000 on Monday after Trump announced new tariffs. “We believe that the sudden uptick in tariff rates is causing investors to sell crypto assets in anticipation of a more serious market decline,” said Jeff Mei, COO at global blockchain technology company BTSE.
Major U.S. indexes rose Friday. For the week, the S&P 500 is up 1.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.3% higher and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.5%. Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose Monday. South Korea’s Kospi touched a new record, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped over 2%.
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And finally…
Chaos, confusion and $200 billion dreams: What I saw at India’s AI summit
India hosted one of the world’s biggest AI events this week, but it was marred by chaos and confusion, apparently not the message it’s trying to send as it strives to become a leading artificial intelligence player.
Despite the drama, U.S. tech firms in particular couldn’t resist the temptation of the Indian market, talking up the country’s AI potential and making a number of announcements.
— Arjun Kharpal