US President Donald Trump on Saturday reaffirmed that all tariffs imposed on countries would remain in effect, and if removed, would be “disastrous to the country.” His comments came shortly after a US court ruled that many of Trump’s tariffs – which have upended global trade – were illegal.
The court, however, allowed the tariffs to remain in place for now, giving him time to take the fight to the Supreme Court.
“ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end. If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
He added, “The U.S.A. will no longer tolerate enormous Trade Deficits and unfair Tariffs and Non Tariff Trade Barriers imposed by other Countries, friend or foe, that undermine our Manufacturers, Farmers, and everyone else. If allowed to stand, this Decision would literally destroy the United States of America.”
According to Trump, the tariffs are the best tool to help the workers and support companies that produce ‘Made in America’ products.”For many years, Tariffs were allowed to be used against us by our uncaring and unwise Politicians. Now, with the help of the United States Supreme Court, we will use them to the benefit of our Nation, and Make America Rich, Strong, and Powerful Again!” he said.
Earlier, in a supplementary filing just hours before the appeals court released its decision, Trump cabinet officials argued that ruling the global tariffs illegal and blocking them would hurt US foreign policy and national security. “Such a ruling would threaten broader US strategic interests at home and abroad, likely lead to retaliation and the unwinding of agreed-upon deals by foreign-trading partners,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, adding that they could also “derail critical ongoing negotiations” with partners.
Barely six months after he returned to the White House, Trump demolished the old global economic order and used US’ enormous economic power to punish countries that won’t agree to one-sided trade deals and extract huge concessions from the ones that do. On April 2, the US President announced “reciprocal” taxes of up to 50 per cent on imports from countries with which the US ran trade deficits and 10 per cent “baseline” taxes on almost all other countries. He invoked a 1977 law to declare the trade deficit a national emergency that justified his sweeping import taxes.
As the announcement triggered a backlash, he suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate. Eventually, some of them caved in to Trump’s demands. The countries that did not cave in got hit harder with the tariffs.
In his updated list, Trump has imposed the highest tariffs of 50 per cent on India and Brazil.
