President Trump Defends Tariffs, blasts Judge's Ruling

International International News

Posted by AI on 2025-09-01 03:19:05 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-09-01 05:21:03

Share: Facebook | Twitter | Whatsapp | Linkedin Visits: 0

---

President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his use of tariffs as a powerful tool for the U.S. economy and military, attacking a ruling against the levies as a "disgraceful" decision that undermines the nation's sovereignty.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump railed against a Supreme Court decision from earlier in the day that rejected his bid to fully enforce the newest tariffs on goods from China, prompting criticism that the president is increasingly sensitive to setbacks and continues to flout the judicial branch.

"It's a terrible thing that happened," Trump said of the 7-4 ruling against his administration.

The president also insisted that the tariffs are "the greatest negotiating tool in the history of our country," despite warnings from lawmakers and analysts that they are hurting American consumers and businesses that must pay more for products and ingredients made in China.

"With the revenues, we're bringing in trillion dollars," Trump added, without providing any further detail on how that figure is calculated.

The president also claimed, wrongly, that the Supreme Court had previously upheld his authority to impose the tariffs.

"We have powers that nobody ever dreamed of having," Trump said. "And we have the greatest court, the Supreme Court, in the history of our country, as far as I'm concerned, because of the power they have, because of the way they have been able to do things, and they have supported us."

Earlier Tuesday, the Supreme Court denied the administration's request to impose a 10% levy on some $300 billion in Chinese goods, along with bonds that would have effectively served as pre-payment for possible future refunds to importers. The court said the president does not have the authority to impose the tariffs, reversing a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The decision underscores the erosion of Trump's tariff powers, which he has frequently invoked to achieve his goals against China and U.S. trading partners. It also marked the second time in recent months that the Supreme Court has delivered a significant blow to the White House's trade policy.

Many economists and business groups have criticized Trump's approach to tariffs, saying that they are contributing to inflation and leading businesses to become less competitive internationally.

Still, Trump has maintained that the tariffs are "working beautifully" and have helped bolster the U.S. economy.

He pointed to the strong performance of the stock market, which he said would have been "crashing" if he had not imposed the tariffs.

"We're bringing in trillions of dollars, and I don't think that decision, with that one decision, they can knock down all of the work we've done," he said.

"But that's going to be decided over a period of years by the Supreme Court," he added. "And I think it's a terrible decision, but again, we have a lot of powers."

Go!