Trump Tariffs Terminated

By Alex Miller

April’s Solar Eclipse squared (90 degrees, a challenge or stressor) US President Donald Trump’s natal Mercury is the gift that keeps on giving, for anyone determined to block his agenda.  On Wednesday 28 May 2025, the US Federal Trade Court, a body which decides civil law disputes over such things as trade policy, ruled unanimously that Trump’s tariff impositions exceeded his authority under the legislation cited to enact it, and were unlawful.  In one fell swoop, the court effectively wiped out most of the tariff regime Trump has put in place since taking office.

An eclipse to Mercury pulls focus to any and all decisions, statements and plans made by the individual, calling everything into question.  As well, Mercury specifically governs issues of trade and commerce, so Trump’s efforts in this area are doubly under the eclipse gun.  In Trump’s case, asteroid Donn (7 Cancer) closely conjoins Mercury (8 Cancer), making his choices and decisions highly personal for him, something self-defining.  His stance on tariffs generally, which he considers efficacious and beneficial (against all evidence to the contrary), remains one of very few policy views he hasn’t changed over four decades, as a champion of their use since the 1980s.

The court’s ruling came under a pending conjunction of the Sun with Mercury (now at 7 and 5 Gemini, about to conjoin on the following day), pulling further focus and highlighting the trade policies, with asteroid Themis (6 Virgo) in square symbolizing the adverse (square) judicial ruling (Themis named for the Greek goddess of justice).  Administration charges of partisan interference by biased judges are effectively quashed by the three-member panel, composed of one Obama appointee and two from conservative presidents, Reagan and Trump himself, in his first term.  Themis came to its station (1 Virgo) in April, a period of power and import when the point appears to slow, stop and reverse motion in the sky, closely aligned with Trump’s natal Ascendant (29 Leo), affording a protracted period of being held accountable by the judiciary (Themis).  This has manifested as a spate of court rulings blocking Trump’s plans and policies’ the conjunction his Ascendant continues into the first third of June.

Markets globally have been roiled for months by Trump’s “on again, off again,” “now you see it, now you don’t” erratic handling of tariffs, imposing one day, postponing the next, altering the percentages seemingly at whim, all with the effect of increasing costs for consumers and uncertainly in the business community.  Hopefully, with this ruling, the world can get off Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride and return to some semblance of normal.

Title Image Credit:  generated by Craiyon