WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump, the President of the United States, strongly defended his trade policy on his social media site TruthSocial on Sunday. He said that tariffs are necessary for America’s survival, even though a federal appeals court had just determined that most of them were unlawful.
Trump stated, “Without tariffs, and all of the TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS we have already taken in, our Country would be completely destroyed, and our military power would be instantly obliterated.”
The president also didn’t like the court’s 7-4 verdict and called the justices who voted against his policies “a Radical Left group.” He did, however, congratulate one judge who disagreed with him, saying, “He loves and respects the USA.” This judge was a Democrat that Obama appointed. Richard Taranto is the judge in question. He is a well-known Obama appointment on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He wrote a forceful dissenting opinion saying that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does allow tariffs as a way to control imports.
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that some of the tariffs that Trump put in place were not legitimate. The court’s ruling said that the president could not use the IEEPA, a 1977 legislation that lets a president take emergency economic action, to put open-ended taxes on practically all imports into the country. The court’s majority ruling said that the law “does not give the president the power to set import taxes without limit.”
The court said the duties were illegal, but they stayed in effect until October 14 so the Trump administration could appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s trade policy has been based on tariffs, which have had big effects around the world. India has one of the highest taxes, 50%, mostly because it keeps buying cheap Russian oil. Some sources say that these tariffs will slow down U.S. GDP growth and raise inflationary pressures because the cost is typically passed on to American consumers.
On a Fox News appearance, Peter Navarro, a trade counselor to Trump, said the same thing as the president. He called the judges who disagreed with the strategy “politicians in black robes.” He said that the tariffs were never designed to last forever and that he was hopeful that the Supreme Court would decide in their favor. “President Trump is justified if we lose the case. Navarro remarked, “It will be the end of the United States.”
Democratic-led states and a group of small import businesses filed a lawsuit against the IEEPA, claiming that it does not allow tariffs to be set. This legal struggle could lead to a fight at the Supreme Court that could have a big effect on the future of U.S. trade policy and the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches.