The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to rule on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs are illegal, setting up a major obstacle to his plans to acquire Greenland.
President Trump tweeted his latest threat to take over Greenland late last night on Truth Social: “The time is now and it will be done!!!”
Earlier, on Saturday, he threatened to impose 10% tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland, rising to 25% on June 1 “until an agreement is reached to fully purchase Greenland.”
But analysts pointed out this morning that the court will issue its ruling on Tuesday. Wall Street’s expectation is that the court will rule that the president does not have the authority to impose tariffs on routine international trade under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). If that happens, Trump’s threats may become moot, at least in the short term.
UBS advised clients in a note this morning: “Threatened U.S. tariffs … could be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
ING’s Carsten Brzeski and Bert Colijn say: “If the Supreme Court rules against all earlier IEEPA tariffs, Trump’s latest announcement [about Greenland] will be ineffective and he will have to find other tariffs. Something that needs more time. “
A ruling is expected early this month. The delay has led some to speculate that the court, which appeared skeptical of the White House’s arguments during oral arguments, may now lean toward the Trump administration. Courts have historically taken longer to issue major, unexpected rulings.
“While the court will issue more opinions this week (with meetings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday), our economists expect a ruling may not come until later this year, possibly as late as June,” Jim Reid and colleagues at Deutsche Bank said in a morning note.
This story originally appeared on Fortune.com