Trump hits court decisions on tariffs, aims to appeal by Wednesday
President Trump on Tuesday said the administration will appeal the latest appeals court decision that rejected his assertion that emergency powers justify his worldwide tariffs as soon as Wednesday, calling the situation an “emergency.”
The president warned about the impact of Friday’s U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decision, which affirmed a lower court opinion that the tariffs were not authorized under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
“If we don’t win that decision, you’ll see a reverberation like maybe you’ve never seen before. That’s how bad it will be,” Trump said on “The Scott Jennings Radio Show.”
“This decision’s an overhang. Let me tell you something… it’s an emergency,” he continued. “We’re going in as an emergency. We’ll be probably doing it tomorrow for an emergency meeting. Because this decision, you see the stock market, this decision is an emergency. Without tariffs, we have an entirely differently country.”
Trump, following the decision, signaled his administration planned to challenge the decision, saying at the time that the Supreme Court will “help” with his tariff agenda.
Later on Tuesday, he told reporters, “we’re going to be going to the Supreme Court we think tomorrow.”
“It’s going up to the Supreme Court, who I think have been incredible people. I think they’ve made some very wise decisions. But the tariff question. Because without the tariffs, this country’s in serious, serious trouble,” the president said.
He added, “That ruling is basically saying that the trillions of dollars that are pouring into our country, putting us in a position like no country anywhere in the world, that they’d like to see us take it away. By the way, a lot of the people behind that lawsuit are from foreign countries, I might add.”
Jennings on Tuesday asked Trump about how confident he was that he could have success with the nation’s highest court and the president warned about the impacts if the challenge fails.
“I’m not going to be thinking about if you don’t because it’s only bad answers, it will be a disaster if that is lost for our country. Our country will be weak, pathetic and not rich,” he said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday evening said the administration would mull other options to keep the tariffs afloat if the Supreme Court ruled against them.
Trump, in his interview with Jennings, defended his tariff plan, arguing the sweeping import taxes have been beneficial in negotiating peace deals.
“It gives us tremendous negotiating power, it gives us tremendous economic power,” he said. “If that decision would be lost, it would be an economic disaster for the United States. The United States will be the richest country. If we lose that decision, we’ll be one of the very poor countries.”
Trump was the first president to impose tariffs under IEEPA when he cited the emergency law earlier this year to put tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico because of the fentanyl crisis. But, in Friday’s decision, the appeals court found that the administration had “no clear congressional authorization” for duties of the “magnitude” that the president imposed.
Updated: 3:37 p.m. ET