India, Feb. 23 -- Just as India had agreed on the broad modalities of a trade deal with the US, things are up in the air once again. On Friday, the US Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump invoking the US's International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose his "liberation day" tariffs was unconstitutional. Trump has, as expected, criticised the judgment and invoked different provisions to impose a fresh round of tariffs, which he increased from 10% to 15% within a day. There are many unknowns right now. Legal frameworks for tariffs outside the IEEPA do not grant blanket executive privilege. Does this mean the bargaining chips shift in favour of countries negotiating trade deals with the US? The fine print of the India-US trade agreement is yet to be negotiated. Our negotiators would do well to keep this in mind. Will the Trump administration revoke the exemption given to many tariff lines to compensate for future revenue losses stemming from the court rejecting his tariff scheme? The US is on thin ice, fiscally speaking, especially in the aftermath of Trump's tax cuts. This could have bearings for critical exports such as electronics from India. Then there is a question of tariff refunds, about which the courts didn't say anything. None of the questions flagged above can be answered conclusively. The chaos is best understood by what is happening within the large body politic in the US rather than economics or law. Trump 2.0 pretty much derailed all guardrails on the executive arm of the government with a vengeance. Tariffs are only a small part of the massive disruption playing out in the US right now. That the Republicans have a majority in both houses of the US Congress post- 2024 has also meant that legislative checks are almost non-existent although the US government has had two shutdowns. The court ruling on his tariffs - it is more about interpreting executive privilege rather than the economics of tariffs - is the first institutional bullet to hit the wild executive. This is only going to enrage rather than tame the beast, until the mid-term elections which are scheduled for November. Even a narrow loss could snatch legislative majority from the Republicans and risk making the Trump administration a lame duck government. There is also the risk of impeachment. A win would risk more backlash against anybody who was seen as being against Trump. Tariffs, so far, do not seem to have succeeded in either lowering the US's cost-of-living pains or engineering a manufacturing resurrection. It'll only be fair that the final decision comes from the people's court rather than a court of law. The world must continue its brace position until then....