President Donald Trump in an interview on Sunday said that if the Supreme Court rules that his tariffs are unconstitutional, the U.S. will struggle economically for years.
Trump appeared on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” and said Gaza could be rebuilt as a “freedom place” that would be “paid for by the wealth of the wealthiest countries,” but warned that the Supreme Court striking down his tariffs could hurt the U.S. economy over the long term.
“If we win the tariff case, which hopefully we will, it’s vital to the interests of our country. We’re the wealthiest country there is. If we don’t, we’ll be struggling for years to come,” Trump said.
The president said that his threat of imposing 200% tariffs helped stop a war between India and Pakistan, and also said that tariffs are the main reason companies are investing in facilities in the U.S. to make pharmaceuticals, chips and other products domestically.
TRUMP CONSIDERS HISTORIC APPEARANCE AT SUPREME COURT TARIFFS HEARING
“The pharmaceuticals are coming back already, again tariffs. So essentially, I’m putting tariffs on pharmaceuticals unless they’re made here. They’re all coming back,” Trump said.
“Chips – I put big tariffs on chips, unless they’re made here – there’s no tariff if they make them here, and all those companies are coming back from Taiwan, they’re coming back from all over the world, and they’re coming back fast,” he added.
The president said that the U.S. will have brought in $17 trillion in investments over the first eight months of his term and could be over $20 trillion by the end of his first year, saying that “it’s a miracle what’s happening.”
FED PRESIDENT WARNS INFLATION IS ‘GOING THE WRONG WAY’ AS TARIFF CONCERNS MOUNT
“We are building the greatest country in the world, economically greater than we’ve ever been before. But we do have a big decision and that decision is coming up in the Supreme Court,” the president said.
“This is being fought by radical left lunatics that don’t even know what they’re doing and people that represent foreign countries that have taken advantage of us for years,” Trump said of the challenge to his administration’s tariffs.
U.S. small businesses affected by tariffs brought lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Trump’s tariffs brought using authority the administration claims under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the administration claims allows the president to impose tariffs.
A federal district court and appeals court rejected that argument, ruling that the president exceeded his legal authority by imposing tariffs under IEEPA and prompting the administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.
FED’S MIRAN DOWNPLAYS IMPACT OF TRUMP’S TARIFFS ON GROWTH, INFLATION
“Tariffs have been used against the United States for years,” Trump said. “And it would always bother me so much, I’d look and I’d see, I’d say how can they allow this to happen to our country. We lost 55% of our automobile business because of the fact that we didn’t use tariffs. If we used tariffs we wouldn’t have lost anything.”
The president said that he hasn’t thought about a backup plan in the event that the Supreme Court strikes down his tariff regime.
“I’ll have to figure something out. I don’t even want to think about it. We’re doing so well to think about it,” Trump said. “If that happened, we’d have to pay back money. So if anything would happen with that, that would mean they’re allowed to use tariffs, and we’re not. If they took away – this is national security – if they took away tariffs, then they’ve taken away our national security.”
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the consolidated tariff case, known as Learning Resources v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc., on Nov. 5.
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