Top Trade Negotiator Says Trump Tariff Plan Will Survive Potential Court Loss

One of President Trump’s top trade negotiators says it won’t matter if the administration loses a court case on the constitutionality of its tariffs because President Trump has already rebalanced global trade.“If it goes the other way then we’ll manage that. The reality is, the countries understand the type of leverage that President Trump has created,” United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Bloomberg on Friday. “That’s why they’re doing these deals, and they’re going to stick regardless of what happened in litigation.”In May, a three-judge panel on the United States Court of International Trade ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the president “unbounded” authority to impose tariffs. The Trump administration appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which put the lower court’s ruling on hold while it hears the case.A panel of 11 judges from the unique federal appeals court heard arguments Thursday in V.O.S. Selections v. Trump over the rationale used by the president to levy 10 percent tariffs on most countries on “Liberation Day” on April 2.Some judges on the panel seemed skeptical of Mr. Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare the federal trade deficit a national emergency as a justification for his import taxes.A Justice Department lawyer admitted the act has never before been used to levy tariffs, but argued that its language giving the president power to “regulate” trade gives Mr. Trump wide-ranging authority, including the option of using tariffs.Thursday’s hearing ended without a decision and it is unclear when the court will rule. Regardless of the outcome, the case is expected to be appealed and eventually end up at the Supreme Court.“We feel very confident in the case,” Mr. Greer said. “If there are still questions coming out of the federal circuit or further litigation that goes to the Supreme Court, we’re confident there, that this statute clearly says that the president has the authority to regulate imports.”Mr. Greer says the administration has other tools to increase tariffs and reduce the trade deficit if the court rules against the president’s current method of levying them.“We always have plans. I’m not going to go deep into our strategy here, mostly because we’re pretty confident on the current plan, but we will do whatever it takes to make sure that the president can continue to rectify the trade deficit and change the global trading system,” Mr. Greer said.“This is a historic thing. This is once in a hundred years that you have the chance to reorder the global trade like this and we’re doing it.”President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that set tariff rates on imports from nearly 100 countries that go into effect on August 7 – one week beyond the previously announced deadline. That leaves a few extra days for countries to seek trade agreements.Mr. Greer says most of the trade deals are set, but there are two major exceptions: A 35-percent tariff rate with Mexico is on hold for 90 days amid negotiations, and talks continue with China, which faces a 30-percent tariff, in a bid to avoid crushing increases that could trigger an all-out trade war between the world’s largest economies.“It’s an exciting time because the president has essentially reset the global trading system,” Mr. Greer said.

Top Trade Negotiator Says Trump Tariff Plan Will Survive Potential Court Loss

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