It was only ever a matter of time, and on Friday, Donald Trump declared war on the US Supreme Court.
The 6-3 decision by its justices to declare unconstitutional the tariffs that have served as the key pillar of his trade, foreign and national security policies was a devastating blow for Trump and the White House.
All morning long, reports indicated Trump was in a blind fury over the opinion that tumbled from the Supreme Court’s steps at the stroke of 10am.
When he briefed reporters three hours later, he unleashed his vituperation on three Republican-appointed members of the court, implying that they were traitors to his cause.
“I’m absolutely ashamed of certain members of the court for not doing what is right,” he fumed, claiming they had been beguiled by “sleazebags” who had brought the case in the first place.
He falsely insisted that justices appointed by Democratic Party presidents were always “an automatic no” on any case involving a Republican president. But he reserved his greatest fury for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both of whom he personally nominated during his first term in office.
Calling them “very unpatriotic and disloyal to the Constitution”, he even told reporters they were “an embarrassment to their families”.
The third Republican appointee to turn against him was Chief Justice John Roberts, placed on the court by George W Bush. Trump carefully avoided direct, personal criticism of the Chief Justice, but implied that Roberts, Gorsuch and Barrett had all been “swayed by foreign interests”, an astonishing accusation of treachery to the nation for which he provided no supporting evidence. (When asked which foreign actors he meant, he said: “You’ll find out.”)
Roundly rejecting the Court’s opinion, Trump indicated that he intends to keep all his tariffs in place, even if he has to find other methods of imposing them.
He insisted the Court’s ruling strengthens his hand. “Very powerful alternatives were approved by this decision,” he claimed, saying: “This decision affirms all those things.”
But the one route Trump ruled out was accepting the Court’s recognition that Congress has the sole constitutional authority to impose and regulate tariffs. The justices found that Trump had erred in invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to perform an end-run around Congress and impose tariffs on the basis that trade deficits constituted “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to America’s national security.
Why, he was asked, won’t he just try and get Congressional backing for his trade war? “I don’t have to,” he proclaimed, insisting: “I have the right to do tariffs.”
And so he announced his intention to “do” more tariffs. He announced the imposition of an immediate, across-the-board duty of an additional 10 per cent on all imports to the US. Under US law, those levies can only remain in force for 150 days, giving Trump roughly five months to secure Congressional support if he wants them extended. He also claimed that “most” of the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court will remain on the books via other executive actions that he claimed the right to take.
Importers demanding an immediate refund of the $150bn they have forked over to the US Treasury since Trump’s return to office were put on notice that the administration intends to fight in the courts. He predicted it could take as long as five years for any refunds to be paid to American businesses, including retailers and others that had preemptively filed legal briefs preparing for the Court’s ruling.
Trump projected anger and determination during his interaction with reporters, but he knows the clock is ticking. With each passing day, the nation gets closer to the midterm elections, reducing the likelihood that Republican lawmakers will offer limitless support for tariffs, given new research by the Federal Reserve showing American consumers are paying 90 per cent of the costs associated with them.
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Additionally, the White House announced on Friday that at the end of next month, Trump will travel to China for a crucial summit with President Xi Jinping, just weeks after the guts were ripped out of the trade war he has threatened to wage against Beijing.
In more immediate terms, Trump must spend the weekend preparing for State of the Union address on Tuesday. The Supreme Court decision is certainly not what he wanted to serve as the wind in his sails ahead of his biggest night on US television this year.
Asked if the nine Supreme Court Justices were still welcome to watch the speech in person on the floor of the House of Representatives, Trump described them as “barely invited”. He said: “Honestly, I couldn’t care less if they come.”
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