FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 16 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA LC | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI ‘India-US trade deal likely to become operational in April’ Page 12 Uproar in Bihar Assembly over law & order, women’s safety Dark horses & heavyweights collide as T20 WC heads to decisive Super 8s Page 5 Trump sets 10-15 day deadline for nuclear deal Page 16 NATION Page 11 US Supreme Court strikes down tariffs, Trump furious New Zealand v Pakistan BRIEFLY India seeks to build friendly relations with B’desh, says MEA: New Delhi: India on Friday said it wants to build and strengthen ties with Bangladesh and the new BNP government which assumed office in the neighbouring country earlier this week. MEA also stated that India's oil imports from Russia, and elsewhere, are guided by national interest, energy security, and diversification, rather than external pressure. (See Page 7) AGENCIES Washington, 20 February I n a major setback to President Donald Trump’s economic agenda, the US Supreme Court on Friday struck down most of his sweeping tariffs, ruling that he lacked authority under a 1977 emergency law to impose broad import levies on America’s trading partners across the world, including India. The ruling marks a rare instance of the conservative-led court reining in Trump’s use of executive power. According to Politico, the court in a 6-3 decision struck down the tariffs, calling it “a major repudiation of a core piece of Trump’s economic programme.” Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, said: “The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope. In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of Saturday, 21 February 2026 SPORTS WORLD BUSINESS | that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.” Roberts added that the 1977 law Trump relied on “falls short” of the Congressional approval required. As per reports, the justices ruled the president did not have the authority under a 1977 emergency economic powers law to impose a vast array of import levies on goods from nearly all of the nation’s trading partners. The Hill said the court “cast aside the bulk of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs Friday, obliterating a canon of his economic strategy in ruling that his use of an emergency statute to remake global trade was unlawful.” The justices rejected Trump’s expanded use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1970s-era statute that allows the president to “regulate” imports when necessary to respond to national emergencies that pose an “unusual and extraordinary” threat. “We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs,” Roberts wrote. “We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.” Though the ruling represents a significant defeat, avenues remain for the administration. Congress retains constitutional authority to impose tariffs, and the president could seek to justify duties under other existing laws. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has reacted after the Supreme Court struck down his global tariffs and called it a "disgrace" during a meeting with state governors. Trump, while addressing the press, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s ruling. SC orders deployment of judicial officers to oversee SIR in Bengal PARMOD KUMAR New Delhi, 20 February Flagging a “trust deficit” and lack of cooperation between the West Bengal government and the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Supreme Court on Friday termed the situation surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State as “extraordinary” and directed deployment of serving as well as former judicial officers to oversee adjudication of claims and objections relating to voters in “logical discrepancies” category. A Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi said the process had got paused at the stage of examining objections relating to voters placed in the “logical discrepancy” list. “There is an unfortunate blame game of allegations and counter-allegations, which shows a trust deficit between two constitutional functionaries - that is, the Democratically elected West Bengal government and the Election Commission of India. Now the process is stuck at the stage of claims and objections of the persons who have been included in the logical discrepancy list. Most of the persons to whom notices were issued have submitted their documents in support of their claim for inclusion in the voter list. These claims are required to be adjudicated in a quasi-judicial process by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs),” the Court said. The court further said that the Collector and Superintendent of Police are under an obligation to provide assistance and logistical support to the presiding judicial officers and team for the smooth completion of the remaining process of SIR. It further directed that both Collector and the Superintendent of Police will be under deemed deputation for the compliance of directions that may be issued in the course of the hearing of claims and objections. The bench also ensured that the representatives both of the State government and the ECI were there to obviate any contention in the completion of the remaining process. Noting disputes over the rank and competence of officers deployed by the State, the Court requested the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to spare serving judicial officers and former District or Additional DistrictJudgestoassistdistrict-wise adjudication. The court ordered involving the judicial officers in deciding the claims and objections, after a suggestion to this effect from the bench was welcomed both by the senior advocates representing the West Bengal government and the Election Commission of India.