WASHINGTON (AP) — The President donald trump I can see it customs duty Or the threat serves as a powerful tool to force the state to submit to his will.
He used them in an unprecedented way. his economic agendabut also as his foundation foreign policy In his second term.
he used the import tax as a threat to ensure a ceasefirefrom a country at war. He used them to intimidate countries into promising to do more. stop people and drugs Prevent spills across borders. he used them, In the case of Brazil, As political pressure, as the judicial system indicted former leaders who were allies of President Trump. recent explosion Canada as punishment tv advertising.
This week, Supreme Court hears arguments On whether the Republican president overstepped federal law on many of his tariffs. judgment against him It could limit or even take away the swift and insensitive influence on which much of his foreign policy has depended.
President Trump has increasingly expressed upset and anxiety about the impending decision in the case, which he claims is one of the most important in U.S. history.
He said it would be a “disaster” for the United States unless the justices overturned a lower court’s ruling that the use of emergency powers laws to impose tariffs went too far. President Trump has hinted that he may take the highly unusual step of attending the debate in person.
In defending the tariffs, the Justice Department highlighted the president’s extensive use of tariffs and argued that trade sanctions are part of the president’s foreign policy authority and that courts should not take the president’s decisions with a grain of salt.
Earlier this year, two lower courts and most judges on the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that President Trump lacked authority under the executive order. International Emergency Economic Powers Act; or IEEPA, the power the Constitution gives Congress to set tariffs. But several dissenting justices in the court said the 1977 law allows the president to regulate imports during emergencies without any special restrictions.
The court left the tariffs in place while the Supreme Court considered the issue. Meanwhile, President Trump continues to use the agreement to pressure and punish other countries on trade-related and unrelated issues.
“President Trump acted lawfully, exercising the tariff authority granted to him by Congress in the IEEPA, to address a national emergency and protect our national security and economy,” White House Press Secretary Khush Desai said in a statement. “We look forward to the Supreme Court’s final victory on this issue.”
Still, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said the Trump trade team is working on contingency plans in the event the high court rules against the Republican administration.
“We have a backup plan,” Levitt said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “But ultimately…we hope the Supreme Court will rule on the law and do what’s right for our country. The importance of this case cannot be overstated. The president must have emergency powers to use tariffs.”
Most presidents have never used tariffs as a foreign policy tool.
Josh Lipsky, a former Obama White House and State Department staffer and current chairman of international economics at the Atlantic Council, said modern presidents have used financial sanctions, such as asset freezes and trade blocks, rather than tariffs, for foreign policy and national security purposes.
There are other laws that the president can use to impose tariffs. But justifying that fee is a months-long process.
President Trump is acting faster and more dramatically, citing IEEPA. He signed an executive order imposing new tax rates and deleted social media posts en masse threatening additional import taxes, just as he did in late October when he was enraged by an anti-tariff TV ad aired by Ontario.
“Presidents have typically treated tariffs as a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer,” Lipsky said.
In contrast, Lipsky said President Trump is using tariffs as a pillar of national security and foreign policy. “Everything is interconnected and tariffs are at the heart of it,” he said.
For example, President Trump earlier this year threatened to impose 30% tariffs on European imports, up from 1.2% before he took office. NATO military alliance and Russia seek to secure President Trump’s support for Ukraine’s security in its war with the European Union signed a contract Settlement with 15% tariff.
european commission faced criticism from companies and member states For giving too much. but Trade Commissioner Maros Šefčović He insisted that reconciliation was “not just a trade issue. It’s a security issue. It’s a Ukraine issue.”
Lipsky said President Trump was able to use the system in “certain situations to get not just trade deals, but better deals, and overall better deals than he otherwise would have had.” “On the other hand, I would also say there is probably some pushback.”
Supreme Court ruling could shake up geopolitics and wallets
President Trump’s tightening of tariffs is disrupting the relationship between America’s friends and enemies. In response, some have increased protectionism or sought to foster ties with China. It has strived to be seen as a champion of free trade.
There is also an impact on your notebook. Some businesses have been inherited part of the cost While raising prices will benefit consumers, others are waiting to see what the final tariffs will be.
Tariffs have traditionally been used only as a tool to address trade practices.
“President Trump’s use of these policies is literally unprecedented,” said Emily Kilcrease, a career civil servant who worked on trade issues at the National Security Council during the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations and served as assistant trade representative.
“President Trump’s use of tariffs is nothing more than a massive attack on the economy as a way to encourage foreign governments to change their stance,” said Kilcrease, now director of the Center for a New American Security think tank.
But she said the case was not clear-cut. Kilcrease said he believes there is a “good chance” the Supreme Court will side with Trump because the IEEPA gives the president “broad and flexible emergency powers.”
The case is also before the Supreme Court, which has so far been reluctant to check President Trump’s use of broad executive powers.
Experts say if the court holds Mr. Trump, it could raise questions about whether foreign governments will try to renegotiate trade deals recently struck with the Trump administration. But there are also political realities at play, as abandoning the deal could affect other foreign policy and economic priorities.
Kilcrease said the administration could move toward trying to use other laws to justify tariffs, but that could mean a more complicated and bureaucratic process.
“It certainly doesn’t mean tariffs will be eliminated,” she said. “It just slows them down a little bit.”
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Associated Press writer Lindsey Whitehurst contributed to this report.
