The Supreme Court has turned down some Trump tariffs. What does that mean for camera prices?

The Supreme Court has turned down around half of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in a key ruling issued on Friday, February 20.

In the ruling, the Supreme Court decided in a 6-3 vote that the 1977 Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the US president the authority to levy tariffs. That bill is behind a significant portion – but not all – of the sweeping global tariffs that the US began levying just a few short months after Trump took office.

The judges ruled that the act, which does not include the word tariff but references “regulate…importation or exportation,” does not give the US president the power to levy emergency tariffs.

Importantly, the Emergency Economic Powers Act is only behind some of the additional tariffs added to US imports since April 2025. NPR notes that the act accounts for about half of the total tariffs and that other tariffs aren’t part of the Supreme Court ruling.

The key ruling leaves a number of questions, including how or even whether refunds would be handled. For photographers in the US, the ruling likely raises a key question: Will the ruling help camera prices to drop in the US?

Every major camera company has now increased prices in the US following the new import taxes added to US imports last year. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, Leica, and Sigma have all introduced adjusted list prices in the US. Many price increases sat around 10 percent, others were higher, particularly on popular compact cameras.

The added import costs were not inconsequential. For example, last month, Canon estimated that tariffs cost the company ¥45.4 billion (about $294 million / £214.1 million / AU$420 million) in the second half of 2025 alone.

With the Supreme Court ruling announcement is likely a welcome reprieve from the higher import costs for some companies, it’s unclear at this point if – or how camera companies will respond.

Lowering camera prices after a tariff change isn’t unheard of – Leica did just that when the US rate on Chinese imports dropped. The Leica D-Lux 8, a compact camera made in China went from $1,595 to $2,790 after tariffs, but then later dropped to $1,915 when those so-called reciprocal tariffs dropped from 145 percent to 30 percent.

While it’s not unheard of for brands to drop list prices after their import costs decline, MSRPs are ultimately up to the company itself, and a number of factors go into those costs. Rising demand for compact cameras and reduced supply – particularly as the cost of DRAM increases in the age of AI – could also influence camera prices.

The Emergency Economic Powers Act isn’t the only legislation used by the Trump Administration to levy new tariffs. For example, the new 25 percent tariff on semiconductors announced last month – which does not impact consumer electronics like cameras – was enacted under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

The Trump Administration could potentially try to enact those tariffs through different methods. In a Tweet posted since the ruling, US Chief of Protocol Monico Crowley wrote that “President Trump has plenty of tools in the tariff toolbox.”

This is a breaking news story; check back for updates.