President Donald Trump announced sweeping 50% tariffs on any country supplying Iran with military weapons on Wednesday, just hours after agreeing a two-week ceasefire with Tehran — a move that raises the prospect of fresh confrontation with China and Russia without specifying which legal authority he would invoke to impose the duties.
“A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately. There will be no exclusions or exemptions!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He did not name any specific countries. China and Russia have both helped Iran build military capacity over the years, supplying missiles, air defence systems and technology. Both governments have denied supplying weapons during the current conflict, though allegations against Moscow have persisted. Reuters reported in February that Iran was considering purchasing supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles from China, and in March that China’s top semiconductor maker SMIC had sent chipmaking tools to Iran’s military, according to two senior Trump administration officials.
Legal authority in question
Trump’s post offered no indication of which legal mechanism he would use to impose the tariffs — a significant obstacle following a Supreme Court ruling in February that struck down his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose broad global tariffs, prompting a lower court to order refunds of some $166 billion collected over the course of a year.
Alternative legal routes exist but carry constraints. Section 301 unfair trade practice tariffs on Chinese goods from Trump’s first term could potentially be expanded, but would require a public notice period. Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which permits sector-specific tariffs on national security grounds, would require a new investigation lasting several months and a period of public comment.
Any new tariffs targeting Chinese goods would also risk inflaming tensions with Beijing at a delicate moment. Trump is preparing to visit China to meet President Xi Jinping and consolidate a fragile trade truce between the world’s two largest economies. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday that Washington was not seeking confrontation with Beijing and wanted to preserve access to Chinese-produced rare-earth minerals and magnets while maintaining existing tariff levels.
Russia presents fewer immediate trade levers. US imports of Russian goods have fallen sharply since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, though they rose 26.1% to $3.8 billion in 2025, dominated by palladium, fertilisers and enriched uranium. The Commerce Department is already pursuing punitive tariffs on Russian palladium following an anti-dumping investigation.
(Reuters)
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