House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tempered expectations on Monday that Congress would step in to codify President Donald Trump‘s tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down a majority of those levied against numerous trade partners on Friday.
Johnson told reporters he thinks it would be difficult to agree on a way forward for tariffs, as the speaker navigates a razor-thin majority, and several House Republicans have already proved they will vote with Democrats to repeal some of Trump’s tariffs.
“It’s going to be, I think, a challenge to find consensus on any path forward on the tariffs, on the legislative side,” the speaker said. “And so that is why, I think, you see so much of the attention on the executive side, the executive branch, and what they’re doing, and how they’re reacting to the ruling.”
Some Republicans have pushed to insert codifying language for tariffs into a second reconciliation bill, a lofty goal that a large coalition of House Republicans are pushing for but are unlikely to achieve, given the extreme difficulty it took to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in July 2025.
The idea was floated by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling that invalidated most of Trump’s tariffs on Friday.
“This betrayal must be reversed and Republicans must get to work immediately on a reconciliation bill to codify the tariffs that had made our country the hottest country on earth!” the senator wrote in a post to X.
But Johnson doused that idea on Monday, saying, “I’m not sure it has much to do with reconciliation.”
For his part, Trump has said he does not need Congress to codify his tariffs when asked about seeking congressional approval in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision.
“I don’t have to,” Trump said to reporters in a news conference following the ruling. “I have the right to do tariffs, and it’s all been approved by Congress, so there’s no reason to.”
Trump added that if he were to ask Congress, he “would probably get it” but there was no need because there are other “methods, practices, statutes, and authorities” available.
“Other alternatives will now be used to replace the ones that the court incorrectly rejected,” Trump said. “We have alternatives. Great alternative, could be more money. We’ll take in more money and be a lot stronger for it.”
House Democrats were prepared to bring forward votes as early as this week to repeal tariffs levied against Mexico and Brazil, after successfully repealing tariffs on Canada last week with the help of six Republicans. But a source familiar with the Democrats’ push confirmed to the Washington Examiner no further votes on repealing tariffs are expected thanks to the high court’s ruling.
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But Democrats have floated pursuing legislation to demand Trump refund the money garnered from the tariffs. Johnson pushed back on this idea on Monday, encouraging some restraint.
“The White House is going to sort that out, and we have to give them the time and space to do it,” Johnson said. “This is an unprecedented event, of course, so there’s no playbook to follow. I think they’ve got good arguments on their side, and we’ll see how it shakes out. That’s not something that really involves the House at this point.”
