US President Donald Trump, while addressing the State of the Union on Tuesday, blasted Supreme Court judges who termed his tariffs “illegal.” He said he had already struck deals with several countries and that those agreements would continue despite the court ruling.
He claimed the countries were satisfied with their respective deals and added that they knew there would be “devastation” if the Trump administration had to renegotiate new agreements following the court’s decision.
"Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars... And yet these countries are now happy, and so are we. We made deals. The deals are all done, and they're happy...," Trump said.
"Just four days ago, an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court. Very unfortunate ruling but the good news is that almost all countries and corporations want to keep the deal that they already made," said Trump.
"Knowing that the legal power that I, as President, have to make a new deal could be far worse for them, and therefore, they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court's unfortunate involvement...," he added.
Supreme Court order on tariffs
In a major setback to Trump's pivotal economic agenda in his second term, the US Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs imposed by Trump on nations around the world were illegal and that the president had exceeded his authority when he imposed the sweeping levies.
The court's decision on Friday struck down tariffs that Trump had imposed on nearly every country using an emergency powers law. A fact sheet issued by the White House said Trump is invoking his authority under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which empowers the President to address certain fundamental international payment problems through surcharges and other special import restrictions.
The fact sheet noted that some goods will not be subject to the temporary import duty because of the needs of the US economy.
Not 15 per cent, but 10 per cent is applicable
Trump, initially announced a 10 per cent global tariff but vowed to raise the tariffs further. Within 12 hours he raised it to 15 per cent. However, the data shows the earlier 10 per cent of tariffs were applicable from Tuesday.