US President Donald Trump has lashed out at some of the US Supreme Court justices after they blocked his tariffs on several countries, calling them “unpatriotic and dishonest.”
Trump told reporters at the White House, saying he was “ashamed of the members of the court,” and claiming the court’s decision had affected foreign interests.
The Supreme Court’s decision blocked Trump’s broad use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act – IEEPA – to impose tariffs on nearly all countries. The law, which was created in the 1970s, allows the president to restrict imports of goods when there is an emergency that poses an extraordinary threat to national security.
Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China last year, at the start of his second term, arguing that those countries had failed to control the smuggling of the drug fentanyl into the United States.
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett – whom Trump appointed earlier in his presidency – joined Chief Justice John Roberts and three other left-leaning justices in ruling that the emergency powers were unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, Trump thanked dissenting justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, calling them “strong and wise” and “lovers of their country.”
Asked whether he regretted the nominations of Gorsuch and Barrett, Trump said he did not want to say for sure, but called their decisions “terrible” and even a disgrace to their families.
Despite the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the IEEPA-based tariffs, Trump has announced that he will impose a 10 percent general tariff and will launch investigations that could lead to new tariffs on various countries and products. He also made it clear that other tariffs he has already imposed on steel and other goods will remain in place, as they are not part of this Supreme Court case.
Trump insisted that other existing laws give him the authority to impose more extensive tariffs than the previous ones, saying that “in order to protect the country, the president can take stronger measures than those that have been taken.”
