President Donald Trump said on Feb. 20 that he signed an order to impose a 10 percent global tariff in response to the Supreme Court striking down sweeping levies issued under an emergency powers law.
“It is my Great Honor to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
The tariffs will take effect on Feb. 24 and are implemented under a federal statute known as Section 122. These tariffs can only last for 150 days, unless it's extended by Congress. The administration will also be exploring alternative tariff pathways in the meantime, Trump said at a briefing earlier on Friday.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, held that the administration lacked authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy tariffs on dozens of countries.
The president called the high court's ruling "deeply disappointing" and said he was "ashamed" of some of the justices. -- 📺 Watch NTD News 24/7 on cable, broadcast, and streaming: https://www.ntd.com/watch
And President Trump sharply criticizing the Supreme Court following its ruling
limiting his use of tariffs, calling some of the justices a disgrace,
and suggesting the court may have been influenced by foreign interest.
We're now joined in studio by NTD's Washington correspondent Mari Otsu.
Mari, thanks so much for joining.
You were at the briefing today.
The president called it spontaneously after the ruling came out.
Talk to us about how the president is responding to this decision
and what's next for the administration.
Hey, Steve.
Yeah, sure.
So this ruling is a big blow to President Trump's economic and national security strategy.
But the president is still projecting strength in the briefing room just moments ago,
signing an executive order imposing a new 10% global tariff under a different legal authority.
And he says he's been reframing today's ruling as justification for actually
expanding his trade strategy rather than weakening it.
The president today first reacting to the decision, though,
saying that he's ashamed of certain members of the court for,
quote, not having the courage to do what's right for this country.
Let's take a look at that.
They also are a, frankly, disgrace to our nation, those justices.
They're an automatic no, no matter how good a case you have.
It's a no.
You can't knock their loyalty.
While saying he's ashamed of certain members of the court for, quote,
not having the courage to do what is right for our country,
President Trump praises Justice Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh for dissenting,
thanking them for what he calls their strength, wisdom and love of country.
Meanwhile, President Trump says we're, quote,
going to find out when asked if he'll investigate foreign influence over the Supreme Court.
It's my opinion that the court has been swayed by
foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think.
I think that foreign interests are represented by people that I believe have undue influence,
have a lot of influence over the Supreme Court, whether it's through fear or respect or friendships.
He says this case is important to him as an issue of economic and national security more than
anything else, demonstrating how he's used his tariffs over the past year to lessen trade
deficit, settle wars and reduce illicit drugs coming into the U.S.
China had hundreds of billions of dollars in surpluses with the United States.
They rebuilt China.
They rebuilt the army.
We built China's army by allowing that to happen.
I charged China a 20 percent tariff as a penalty for sending fentanyl in.
And that was 20 times more than they could make by selling fentanyl.
What was?
On October 8th, when the Chinese government said that they were going to put a worldwide
export control on any product that had 0.01 percent Chinese rare earths in it,
24 hours later, President Trump said that he would impose 100 percent tariff on China
if they did it.
They immediately came to the negotiating table.
Despite the court's ruling, the Trump administration says that, in a sense, nothing has changed.
President Trump cites a dissent written by Justice Kavanaugh listing the laws the
administration could pursue, acknowledging that those processes may be more cumbersome,
but will ultimately have stronger legal standing.
Now I'll go the way I could have gone originally, which is even stronger than our original choice.
The Supreme Court has taken away the president's leverage.
But in a way, they have made the leverage that he has more draconian,
because they agreed he does have the right to a full embargo.
President Trump adds that the Supreme Court's decision has, quote,
made a president's ability to both regulate trade and impose tariffs more powerful and
crystal clear.
Foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years are ecstatic.
They're so happy.
And they're dancing in the streets, but they won't be dancing for long.
That I can assure you.
And Steve, just before this ruling came out, the White House actually announced President
Trump's upcoming trip to China, which will be from March 31st to April 2nd.
And President Trump, of course, has been using these emergency tariffs as a tool to put the
regime in check over their unfair trade practices.
And this ruling is now stifling his power to act more swiftly against economic warfare
from the Chinese regime.
Yep.
That China trip expected to come in April.
We'll be watching that very closely to see how it goes.
Antony Mariotti, thanks so much.
