Come ON!
Anyone think Trump & Co. are gonna admit they have a ANOTHER Door slammed in their face?
Trump administration officials are making clear that they won’t back down on their global tariff policies without a fight, even after a federal court struck down its emergency tariffs on dozens of countries in a ruling Wednesday night.
Kevin Hassett, the head of Trump’s National Economic Council, brushed off the ruling on Fox Business on Thursday morning, calling the decision a mere “hiccup” in Trump’s plan caused by “activist judges.”
“In a month or two, you are going to look ahead and see that countries have opened their markets to American products, they have lowered their non-tariff barriers, they have lowered their tariffs and all the countries that have done that are being treated very respectfully and well by U.S.,” Hassett said, adding that countries that don’t abide by Trump’s plan should expect “some form of reciprocal tariffs.”
That confident pose contrasts with the position the Trump administration took in oral arguments before the Court of International Trade, which issued the ruling Wednesday against Trump’s tariffs, and in other judicial venues.
In a hearing this week in the District Court for the District of Columbia, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said an adverse decision “would kneecap the president on the world stage, cripple his ability to negotiate trade deals, imperil the government’s ability to respond to these and future national emergencies.”
Trump relied on the 1977 International Economic Emergency Powers Act to impose his sweeping reciprocal tariffs on the grounds that the large and persistent trade deficit represented a national emergency. He also imposed separate IEEPA tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico to address concerns about fentanyl and undocumented migration.
The Court of International Trade ruled that Trump had overstepped his authority in imposing the tariffs, but Hassett rejected that argument.
“The idea that the fentanyl crisis in America is not an emergency is so appalling to me that I’m sure that when we appeal, that this decision will be overturned,” Hassett said.
Trump delayed the highest reciprocal tariffs on about 60 countries for 90 days, or until July 9, to allow time for negotiations, but left a 10 percent baseline duty in place….
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Hassett indicated the administration would operate on the assumption the appeals court will uphold the tariffs in order to press on with negotiations, which he suggested would end successfully with many countries by the July deadline….
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However, some Republican fiscal hawks are praising the ruling.
“I have said time and time again that the Founders wanted to prevent one person from having unilateral control and decision-making powers,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has repeatedly criticized Trump’s tariff strategy, said in a post to X on Thursday. “That’s why the power of the purse and the ability to tax lie with Congress, not the president.”…
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