Kevin O'Leary warns Supreme Court tariff ruling will trigger 'major compliance costs'
WASHINGTON, DC: Millionaire investor Kevin O’Leary warned that US companies face steep compliance costs after a landmark Supreme Court ruling curbed Donald Trump’s use of emergency tariffs powers.
In a 6–3 decision on Friday, the court invalidated broad swaths of the administration’s import levies, holding that the president improperly invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs on foreign trading partners.
Kevin O’Leary calls it ‘a nightmare for business owners’
Speaking to Kasie Hunt of CNN, Kevin O’Leary said the ruling sparked immediate panic among lenders and shareholders.
“My office got flooded with calls demanding their money back,” the Shark Tank investor said. “The Supreme Court has caused a nightmare here. They called it a mess themselves. What am I supposed to do next?” he asked.
O’Leary added that he intends to press White House officials for clarity during Donald Trump's upcoming State of the Union address. “My head’s getting squeezed from the top and the bottom just trying to stay compliant,” he said.
O’Leary says businesses brace for legal and accounting fallout
According to O’Leary, uncertainty is rippling across corporate America. He said he is working to mobilise “thousands” of accountants and lawyers to help business owners navigate the fallout, noting that virtually every US company faces the same compliance dilemma.
The Supreme Court offered no guidance on whether businesses are entitled to tariff refunds, leaving lower courts to sort out the issue. Anticipating the ruling, hundreds of US companies had already filed lawsuits seeking refunds for tariff-related losses.
Study says consumers bore the real cost
US businesses and consumers absorbed most of the burden from Trump’s tariffs, despite White House assurances that foreign exporters would pay. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that nearly 90 percent of the costs were shouldered domestically.
“We are the backbone of the economy,” O’Leary said. “We just need to know the rules. Tell us what they are, and we’ll follow them.”
Political fallout reaches the court
The ruling drew mixed reactions across Washington. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both Trump appointees, joined the majority in striking down the tariffs.
Trump publicly criticized them, while praising dissenting Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, calling Kavanaugh his “new hero” in a series of posts on Truth Social.
The backlash comes even as Trump said he has signed an executive order imposing a fresh 10 percent tariff on imports from countries around the world, setting the stage for further legal and political battles ahead.
