The Kabul Tribune (KT) — U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States could be required to pay back “trillions of dollars” if the Supreme Court rules that tariffs imposed under his administration are illegal.
In a post on his social media platform on Monday, Jan. 12,
2026, Trump said a ruling against the government would trigger massive
repayment obligations, including what he described as hundreds of billions of
dollars in tariffs, as well as additional costs linked to investments made by
companies to avoid tariff payments.
“It would be a complete mess,” Trump wrote, adding that such
a financial burden would be extremely difficult for the country to manage.
Trump argued that calculating and repaying such amounts
would be complex and could take years, saying the issue involved questions of
how much would be owed, to whom, and over what period.
A Supreme Court ruling on the legality of the tariffs is
expected as early as Wednesday, according to U.S. media reports.
