WASHINGTON: While US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened countries with steep increases in import duties if they chose to “play games” with tariffs, China urged America to cancel the unilateral measures and European Union lawmakers declared they would put trade deal with Washington on hold after the Supreme Court ruling.

“Any country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the US for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” Trump posted on social media.

However, China urged the United States to cancel the ‘unilateral’ tariffs announced by President Trump after the US Supreme Court struck down the oft-trumpted tariff measures on imports.

China’s commerce ministry said it was conducting a “comprehensive assessment” of the ruling’s impact, and called on Washington to lift the tariffs.

China urges US to cancel unilateral measures, warning that ‘there are no winners in a trade war’

“China urges the US to cancel its unilateral tariff measures on its trading partners,” the ministry said, reminding the US that there were no winners in a trade war and that “protectionism leads nowhere.”

EU plans to freeze trade deal

EU lawmakers said they would put on hold a key trade deal with the United States after the SC struck down many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

European Parliament negotiators will meet to formally agree to freeze plans to approve the deal agreed last year.

The parliament’s trade committee had been due to give its green light on Tuesday to remove tariffs on US industrial goods as part of the accord.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2026