Desk : After the US Supreme Court canceled the mutual tariffs imposed on countries under President Donald Trump’s IEEPA (International Emergency Economic Powers Act), senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has asked the Indian government what impact this decision will have on the recently announced trade deal between India and the US.
I wrote in my Sunday column on February 15, 2026 that if the Supreme Court struck down
President Trump’s imposition of tariffs, the result will be that the USA and India will revert to the status quo ante (before April 2, 2025)Meanwhile, the US has extracted several…
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) February 20, 2026
Chidambaram said in a column that if the Supreme Court voids Trump’s decision to impose tariffs, India and the US will revert to the status quo before April 2, 2025. He mentioned the recent trade deal framework, in which the US had announced to give several concessions to India without any conditions. Chidambaram wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “What will happen to those concessions?”
In the India-US joint statement, it was announced that the US will give zero tariff to India on many goods. Additionally, India intended to import $500 billion worth of goods from the US, including energy and other commodities. India had also agreed to remove non-tariff barriers for some US goods. Chidambaram asked, “What will happen to those promises?”
Chidambaram also raised questions on Indian trade delegation in US
Chidambaram mentioned the visit of an Indian trade delegation to the US next week, possibly to finalize the text of the framework agreement. He asked what this team will do now after the decision of the US Supreme Court. Chidambaram wrote on
Following the US Supreme Court’s action, President Trump indicated that he would invoke Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. This is a provision that is rarely discussed, and it allows temporary tariffs to be imposed in response to balance-of-payments problems.
Under Section 122, the US President has the authority to impose temporary tariffs of up to 15% to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits, and these tariffs can remain in place for up to 150 days. Next, Congress must vote to increase these tariffs. According to trade experts, the Trump administration could let these measures expire and reimpose them by declaring a new balance-of-payments crisis.
After this decision, serious questions have been raised on the upcoming trade deals between the US and India. Chidambaram has asked the Indian government to clarify what impact this recent legal decision will have on the India-US trade deal and what will be the next step of the Indian delegation in this entire incident.
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