Trump slams justices after Supreme Court strikes down most of his tariffs

February 20, 2026 at 3:44 p.m. EST / The Washington Post

President Donald Trump said Friday he would impose a new across-the-board tariff after the Supreme Court ruled most of his levies illegal. (Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post)

By Justin Jouvenal
,
David J. Lynch
and
Julian Mark

The Supreme Court on Friday struck down most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, a ruling that deals a major blow to his signature economic policy and represents a stinging political setback.

‘Embarrassment to their families’: Trump denounces Supreme Court justices after tariffs ruling

By John Kruzel

February 20, 2026 9:57 PM UTC Updated 40 mins ago

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump lashed out on Friday at the U.S. Supreme Court and the six justices who struck down his signature global tariffs – including two he appointed – in remarkably personal terms while hailing the three justices who backed him.

Although previous presidents have sharply criticized Supreme Court rulings against them, Trump’s lengthy tirade to reporters at the White House stood out for its contemptuous tone, as well as the personal nature of his scorn and praise.

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It represented a remarkable attack by a sitting president on the top U.S. judicial body, even after Trump and other senior officials in his administration over the past year have assailed lower-court judges for rulings impeding his policies since he returned to office in January 2025.

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, had over the past year permitted Trump’s expansive assertion of executive power, with few exceptions, in a series of decisions issued on an emergency basis.

But Friday’s ruling delivered Trump a stinging defeat. It was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by two fellow conservatives who Trump appointed during his first term in office – Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett – as well as the three liberal justices.

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特朗普拟于3月31日至4月2日访华 | 联合早报

发布/2026年2月21日 07:10

特朗普拟于3月31日至4月2日访华

2025年10月30日，特朗普和习近平在韩国釜山出席亚太经合峰会期间会晤。 （路透社）

美国总统特朗普计划在3月31日至4月2日访问中国，与国家主席习近平举行会晤。

彭博社报道，特朗普星期四（2月19日）在华盛顿举行的和平委员会第一次会议上说，他将在4月访问中国。

美国最高法院2月20日裁定特朗普援引《国际紧急经济权力法》向全球征收关税违反宪法，势必会打乱中美两国为延长去年达成的贸易休战协议所做努力。

特朗普和习近平预计将寻求解决再次陷入不确定性的贸易关系，并缓和围绕台湾问题的紧张局势。

特朗普此前表示期待习近平在今年晚些时候访问华盛顿，预计习近平将出席在佛罗里达州举行的二十国集团（G20）会议。

‘The Constitution was defended today’: GOP Congressman reacts to Supreme Court tariff ruling | CNN Politics

By Margaret Given, CNN
Published 3:55 PM EST, Fri February 20, 2026

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‘The Constitution was defended today’: GOP Congressman reacts to Supreme Court tariff ruling

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CNN’s Brianna Keilar gets Republican Congressman Don Bacon’s reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling that President Donald Trump violated federal law when he unilaterally imposed sweeping tariffs across the globe. Bacon says if President Trump moves ahead with his newly invoked alternative 10% global tariffs, “that will be brought up for a vote in Congress, and it will be defeated.”

7:44 • Source: CNN

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Who’s weighing in as Trump considers military strikes on Iran?

February 20, 2026 / 5:45 PM EST / CBS News

At the same time the U.S. has entered negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, President Trump acknowledged he’s considering limited military strikes against the regime, and inside the Trump administration, there are factions weighing in with the president on each option.

A Trump ally, who requested anonymity to talk about private discussions, described the internal deliberations inside the administration as “less of a debate” or ideological standoff on foreign policy and more of a “series of updates” for Mr. Trump, who is reacting to each briefing and development and considering his options, with few sure about which direction he might go, since events and information remain fluid.

The ally referred to the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a “point person” in helping Mr. Trump develop the contours of a potential diplomatic deal, along with top officials, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, should there be a military strike that takes place in the coming days or weeks.

Top national security officials have told Mr. Trump the military would be ready for potential strikes on Iran as soon as Saturday, though the timeline for any action is likely to extend beyond this weekend. The president has not yet made a final decision about whether to strike, officials said.

Publicly, Rubio has focused on diplomatic efforts and said a few days ago that that’s where the president’s focus was, too.

“Right now, we are talking about negotiations; we are focused on negotiations,” he said in Slovakia on Feb. 15. “The president has made that clear. If that changes, it will be obvious to everyone.”

Rubio has presented both sides of the argument to Mr. Trump, multiple sources familiar with the discussions say, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has laid out U.S. military options and the timeline when the military assets would be ready. All military forces deployed to the region are expected to be in place by mid-March.

In private meetings, Vice President JD Vance has weighed in, too, and said his preference is to not launch military strikes against Iran, according to multiple sources.

A White House official said the vice president “provides a multitude of different angles and scenarios in order for the president to make informed decisions about a wide range of issues.”

And the official said the president “listens to a range of opinions on any given issue, but ultimately decides based on what is best for our country and national security.”

“It’s not clear to me that he’s made up his mind about what his objectives are,” former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, now a Trump critic, said in an interview. “I believe ultimately there will be a use of military force because he has to vindicate the red line he drew back during the protests.”

The U.S. and Iran concluded a round of negotiations on Tuesday in Geneva, with both sides saying progress was made, but there are “still a lot of details to discuss,” a U.S. official said. Iran is expected to present detailed proposals within a couple of weeks “to address some of the open gaps in our positions,” the official also said. No date has been set for follow-up consultations.

Last June, the U.S. joined Israel in strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities during its 12-day war with Iran, causing what intelligence suggested was severe damage to the regime’s nuclear program.

There has been some activity around the nuclear sites recently. Satellite photos from late January showed roofs have been built over two damaged buildings at the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear facilities, the first major activity detected by satellite at any of the country’s stricken nuclear sites since the 12-day war.

加拿大对美最高法涉关税裁决表欢迎

发布时间：2026年2月21日 07:27 / 来源：联合早报

美国贸易伙伴对美国总统特朗普大规模关税措施被最高法院裁定违法持审慎欢迎态度，其中受冲击最大的加拿大表示美国的关税措施“不合理”。

综合法新社和新华社报道，各国政府正在权衡美国最高法院星期五（2月20日）的裁决将如何影响与这个全球最大经济体的商业往来。自特朗普去年重返白宫以来，美国经济已因特朗普对行政权力的使用而发生巨大变化。

加拿大政府高层及地方官员对美国最高法院认定特朗普政府大规模关税违法表示欢迎。

加拿大政府加美贸易部长勒布朗在社交媒体上发表声明说，美最高法院的裁决进一步支持加方长期以来的立场，即美方根据《国际紧急经济权力法》加征关税“不合理”。

但勒布朗说，加方仍清醒认识到未来的艰巨任务，特别是要继续支持本国受美国关税影响的钢铝、汽车行业企业和工人。

加拿大安大略省省长福特也在社媒发文，称美国最高法院这一裁决是“重要胜利”，但斗争还将继续。

“我们需要密切关注白宫的后续反应。”福特表示，需要继续反对美国针对汽车、钢铝和林业产品的关税，直至美方彻底取消这些阻碍经济增长和就业稳定的壁垒。

美国最高法院2月20日以6比3的投票结果，裁定美国《国际紧急经济权力法》（IEEPA）没有授权总统征收大规模关税，此举超越总统职权，已构成违宪。这项裁决不仅重创特朗普执政的核心经济武器，更可能引发高达1750亿美元（约2217亿新元）的税款退还潮。

Major cyberattack forces closure of clinics across Mississippi

2026-02-20T20:41:30.759Z / CNN Politics

[Sean Lyngaas]

Updated 2 hr ago

Updated Feb 20, 2026, 4:05 PM ET

PUBLISHED Feb 20, 2026, 3:41 PM ET

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The University of Mississippi Medical Center stands in Jackson, Mississippi, on May 2, 2018.

Rogelio V. Solis/AP/File

A ransomware attack has forced one of Mississippi’s largest health care systems to close clinics across the state on Friday, raising larger concerns about the cybersecurity of medical facilities across the country.

The closure affects all 35 of the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s health clinics, which provide a range of care to patients from cancer treatment to chronic-pain management. The attack also caused the cancelation of elective procedures in what health officials said would be a “multi-day event.”

Doctors at UMMC are now using pen and paper as they treat patients because they are cut off from the electronic health records system they normally use to draw up patient information. A top FBI official in the state said the bureau was “surging resources both locally and nationally” in response to the attack.

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The digital outage and cancellation of surgeries could strain a medical system whose $2 billion budget, according to its website, accounts for two percent of the state’s economy.

Emergency rooms remain open and UMMC doctors are drilled on delivering services when computers are down.

“We do not know how long this situation may last,” LouAnn Woodward, a vice chancellor at UMMC, said at a press conference Thursday. “As a precaution, all of our IT systems have been taken down, and risk assessment will be conducted before we bring things back up.”

A disruptive ransomware attack like this is familiar to hundreds of health care organizations across the US, which have suffered attacks in recent years. Other ransomware attacks have threatened patient safety, caused delays in crucial medication being distributed and cost the economy billions of dollars in aggregate. The attacks typically involve the hackers locking or stealing data and then demanding payment from victim hospitals.

It was unclear Friday if the hackers had made ransom demands. In general, hospitals can be vulnerable to extortion by hackers because of the pressure hospital executives face to get critical care functions back online, experts have toldCNN.

Officials from the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services have been closely monitoring the UMMC ransomware attack’s impacts since Thursday, sources familiar with the federal response told CNN.

“The attackers have communicated to us and we’re working with the authorities and the specialists on next steps,” Woodward told reporters.

“Ransomware attacks targeting US hospitals and health care continue to increase at a very concerning rate,” said John Riggi, national advisor for cybersecurity and risk at the American Hospital Association.

“Any cyberattack which disrupts or delays health care delivery, poses a risk to patient and community safety,” Riggi said, speaking generally rather than on the Mississippi hack specifically. “This is especially so in rural areas where the next nearest available hospital or trauma center may be over 100 miles away.”

There is a broader concern in the US health care sector about potential blowback in cyberspace if the US military strikes Iran in the coming days, which has prepared to do if ordered by President Donald Trump.

Iranian hackers have been linked to numerous cyberattacks on US health organizations in the past decade, and cyber specialists are preparing for a possible uptick in hacks should the US strike, one expert told CNN. There is no indication that Iran is responsible for the attack in Mississippi.

“We are keeping an elevated threat level and watching this Iran situation for potential impacts,” said one cyber expert focused on health care who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

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MAHA activists warn Trump could lose their support over glyphosate order

February 20, 2026 5:25 PM UTC / Reuters / By Leah Douglas

• Trump’s executive order seen as November midterm election liability by MAHA supporters
• Kennedy supports order for national security
• Top US glyphosate producer Bayer has faced litigation over cancer risks

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Members of the U.S. Make America Healthy Again movement that backs Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. say an executive order this week to boost domestic production of the weedkiller glyphosate risks their support in November’s midterm elections.

Kennedy backers helped elect President Donald Trump in 2024, and he has installed MAHA priorities during his second term, such as reducing the number of recommended childhood vaccines and promoting whole foods in the new dietary guidelines.

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The administration drew criticism from MAHA activists last year for removing draft language on pesticides from an August report on children’s health and for the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of new pesticides.

On Wednesday, Trump’s executive order invoked the Defense Production Act to ensure the domestic supply of phosphorus and glyphosate, a widely used weedkiller at the center of tens of thousands of lawsuits by plaintiffs claiming it causes cancer.

MAHA activists said they saw Trump’s executive order as a broken promise to their movement, which opposes the widespread use of glyphosate due to health concerns.

“I don’t feel like there’s much hope after this executive order in preserving the MAHA vote,” said Kelly Ryerson, co-executive director of American Regeneration and a critic of glyphosate use.

The order says glyphosate is “crucial to the national security and defense, including food-supply security.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Estimates vary widely on how many voters MAHA includes, but it represented a large part of Kennedy’s support during his aborted presidential campaign.

TRUMP’S ORDER FOLLOWED BAYER

Trump’s order came after Bayer, the only company that produces glyphosate in the U.S., proposed a $7.25 billion legal settlement this week to address tens of thousands of lawsuits claiming its glyphosate weedkiller Roundup causes cancer.

The German company said last August that it could be forced to stop U.S. production unless regulatory changes were made to stave off that litigation. The U.S. imports large volumes of glyphosate from China.

Bayer has maintained that glyphosate is safe for human use. The science on glyphosate’s safety is mixed, with some research showing it can affect the endocrine system or linking it to cancer.

Dave Murphy, founder and CEO of United We Eat and former finance manager on Kennedy’s presidential campaign, called the executive order a “strategic mistake” that could serve as an election liability.

“Trump would not be in the White House this second time without those followers, and we expect him to live up to his word,” Murphy said.

Kennedy, a longtime glyphosate critic who in a 2024 post on X called it “one of the likely culprits in America’s chronic disease epidemic,” said in a statement that the executive order is necessary for national security.

“When hostile actors control critical inputs, they weaken our security,” he said, without specifying to which countries he was referring. “By expanding domestic production, we close that gap and protect American families.”

NOVEMBER ELECTION RISK

Republicans control the Senate and, more narrowly, the House of Representatives, but every seat in the House and a third in the Senate will be contested in November.

Trump’s aggressive approach to immigration and voter concerns about persistently high costs already show signs of liability to Republicans in the elections. Sitting presidents have lost House seats in every midterm election since George W. Bush in 2006.

MAHA supporters flooded social media with posts and comments about their disappointment, including images with the text, “we do not consent to being poisoned.”

A petition to Trump being circulated by the MAHA group Moms Across America, whose founder Zen Honeycutt is a longtime Kennedy ally, urges him to rescind the order.

“True national security is healthy families and the ability of the next generation to reproduce and thrive, which will not happen for as long as these pervasive, harmful herbicides are being used,” the petition said.

Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; editing by Caroline Humer, Rod Nickel

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Trump says Supreme Court ruling against his tariffs ‘deeply disappointing’

February 20, 2026 6:26 PM UTC / Reuters

节点运行失败

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at a press briefing at the White House, following the Supreme Court’s ruling that he had exceeded his authority when he imposed tariffs, in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 20, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst [Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab]

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down his sweeping tariffs was

FCC asks networks to air ‘pro-America content’ to mark nation’s 250th birthday

February 20, 2026 5:19 PM UTC / Reuters

By David Shepardson

节点运行失败

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr speaks during the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2025 Global Aerospace Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 9, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo

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WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – The head of the Federal Communications Commission urged U.S. broadcasters on Friday to air “patriotic, pro-America content” to mark this year’s 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr suggested broadcasters could voluntarily take part in the semiquincentennial celebrations by running nonpartisan public service announcements, short segments, or full specials promoting civic education and American history.

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He said they could also choose to start each day’s broadcast with “The Star-Spangled Banner” or the Pledge of Allegiance, and could air music by major American composers.

The announcement comes as the Trump-led FCC has repeatedly clashed with broadcast networks.

NBC, Fox, CBS and ABC did not immediately comment.

NO MORE NATIONAL ANTHEM

Until the 1980s, many local affiliates would play the national anthem when they signed off programming for the day, a practice made obsolete by round-the-clock broadcasting.

Carr, who was named FCC chair by President Donald Trump in January 2025, initiated a practice of saying the Pledge of Allegiance – a patriotic oath – before the FCC’s monthly meetings.

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Carr said he hoped broadcasters would pledge to show civics programs to fulfill “their public interest mandate to serve the needs and interests of their local communities as America’s 250th birthday celebration marches on.”

COMPLAINTS AGAINST BROADCASTERS

This week, Carr confirmed that the FCC is investigating ABC’s “The View” over whether it violated equal time rules when it aired an interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate. CBS late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert said lawyers for CBS had barred him from airing an interview with Talarico.

The FCC said last month that daytime and late-night TV talk shows are no longer considered “bona fide” news programs that are exempt from requirements to give equal air time to views of opposing candidates. For decades talk shows had been exempt from those rules.

Carr has repeatedly criticised the news media and suggested that broadcast networks need significant reforms.

In January, he reinstated complaints about a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, how ABC News moderated the pre-election televised debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump and NBC for allowing Harris to appear on “Saturday Night Live” shortly before the election.

Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul and Helen Popper

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