The Dictatorship
Trump’s made tariffs central to his presidency. What’s next?
WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s little that Donald Trump has cherished more in his second term than tariffs, a symbol of his imperious approach to the presidency. He has raised and lowered them at will, rewriting the rules of global commerce and daring anyone to stop him.
Now that may be over, the victim of a stunning rebuke from the Supreme Court on Friday. After more than a year of expanding his power, Trump had run into a rare limit.
It was a loss that Trump couldn’t quite accept, and the president claimed he would use other laws to impose alternative tariffs. He even said that the end of this particular legal battle would bring “great certainty” to the economy.
But if anything, Friday opened a new chapter in Trump’s ongoing tariffs drama and raised urgent questions about his ability to make good on his promises of an economic revival. The ruling will most likely prolong chaos over international trade through the midterm elections, with much unknown about Trump’s next steps and whether roughly $175 billion in import taxes that the Supreme Court struck down will be refunded.
The president chose, as he often does, to scorn the patriotism of those who disagree with him.
He said the ruling was “deeply disappointing” and “ridiculous,” adding that he was “absolutely ashamed” of the six Supreme Court justices who ruled against him “for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country.”
Trump described the justices as “fools and lapdogs” who are “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.”
The president said on social media Friday night that he had signed an executive order enabling him to bypass Congress and impose a 10% tax on imports from around the world. The government would begin national security investigations in order to charge new tariffs on specific products as well. The 10% tariffs are legally capped at 150 days, but Trump brushed off a question about the limit by saying “we have a right to do pretty much what we want to do.”
All of that means Trump’s tariff timelines are likely to collide with the midterm elections for control of the House and Senate.
Tariffs have been politically unpopular
Trump learned of the Supreme Court’s decision during a private meeting with governors in the morning when he was handed a note, according to two people with knowledge of the president’s reaction who spoke on the condition of anonymity. They said he called it “a disgrace.”
Another person, who was briefed on the conversation, disclosed that Trump said he has “to do something about these courts.”
The meeting with the governors ended shortly thereafter.
Looming over Trump’s legal debacle has been voters’ frustration with the tariffs, which have been linked to higher prices and a slowdown in hiring.
The president has consistently misrepresented his tariffs, claiming despite evidence to the contrary that foreign governments would pay them and that the revenues would be sufficient to pay down the national debt and give taxpayers a dividend check.
After Trump announced worldwide tariffs last April, an AP-NORC poll found that 76% of Americans said the policies would increase the cost of consumer goods — a worrisome sign for a president elected on the promise of addressing years of inflation.
Another poll, conducted in January, said about 6 in 10 Americans said Trump had gone too far in imposing new tariffs on other countries.
Trump used tariffs to reshape Republican trade agenda
Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs had left many Republican lawmakers uneasy, publicly and privately, forcing them to defend what were essentially tax increases on the American public and businesses.
At various points during Trump’s second term, at least seven senators from the president’s party have voiced their concerns. Earlier this month, six House Republicans joined with Democrats to vote for a resolution against Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
Indeed, free trade had long been a central plank of the Republican Party before Trump’s rise to power.
Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell described Trump’s assertion that he can bypass Congress to implement tariffs as “illegal” in a statement praising the Supreme Court’s decision.
“Congress’ role in trade policy, as I have warned repeatedly, is not an inconvenience to avoid,” the former top Senate Republican said. “If the executive would like to enact trade policies that impact American producers and consumers, its path forward is crystal clear: convince their representatives under Article 1” of the Constitution.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who served during Trump’s first term, cheered the ruling.
“American families and American businesses pay American tariffs — not foreign countries,” Pence wrote on social media. “With this decision, American families and businesses can breathe a sigh of relief.”
Democrats were quick to seize on the Supreme Court ruling to say Trump broke the law and middle-class families suffered as a result.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said Trump “is not a king” and his “tariffs were always illegal.”
“Republicans in Congress could have easily ended this economic crisis by standing up for their communities,” said DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Instead, they chose to bend the knee to Trump while families, small businesses and farmers suffered from higher prices.”
Tariffs were central to Trump’s economic pitch
Trump has claimed that his tariffs were the difference between national prosperity and deep poverty, a pitch he made Thursday to voters in the swing state of Georgia.
The president used the word “tariff” 28 times in his speech at a Georgia steel company, Coosa Steel, which credited the import taxes as making its products more competitive with goods from China.
“Without tariffs, this country would be in such trouble right now,” Trump insisted.
Trump also complained that he had to justify his use of tariffs to the Supreme Court.
“I have to wait for this decision. I’ve been waiting forever, forever, and the language is clear that I have the right to do it as president,” he said. “I have the right to put tariffs on for national security purposes, countries that have been ripping us off for years.”
By a 6-3 vote, the high court said no.
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Associated Press writer Steven Sloan contributed to this report.
As President Donald Trump weighs a second major military assault on Iran in less than a year, congressional Democrats are warning a president known for pushing the boundaries of his executive power against unilaterally waging war on the Middle Eastern country.
Rep. Debbie Wassermann Schultz, D-Fla., said Saturday that Trump “must consult with Congress” and make a clear case for why Iran poses an imminent threat to the United States that would warrant U.S. military action. She pointed to the fact that former President George W. Bush sought congressional authorization before he ordered the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“We have not seen anything about an imminent threat that would necessitate a significant strike like this,” Wasserman Schultz said on MS NOW’s “Alex Witt Reports.”
“So to think that this would be a walk in the park, the president is really not thinking this through carefully, and needs to consult with Congress,” she said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement on Friday that the Trump administration has not clarified its strategy or objectives — or solicited congressional approval — as it weighs launching a military campaign against Iran.
“Congress has the sole power to declare war,” Schumer said. “We must enforce the War Powers Act and compel this administration to consult with Congress and explain to the American people the objectives and exactly why he is risking more American lives.”
Trump acknowledged on Friday that he is considering limited military strikes to push Tehran into agreeing to end its nuclear enrichment.
“I guess I can say I am considering that,” Trump told reporters amid a massive buildup of U.S. military forces in the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers and dozens of fighter jets, poised within striking distance of Iran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on Friday that there is “no military solution for Iran’s nuclear program.” Trump on Thursday warned “bad things will happen” if Iran does not agree to a nuclear deal.
“The only solution is diplomacy,” Araghchi said. “This is why the U.S. is back at the table of negotiation and is seeking a deal. And we are prepared for that.”
Although he is unlikely to face much resistance from congressional Republicans, Democrats have cautioned against striking Iran. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned of wider implications.
“A preemptive attack against Iran at this time would be a strategic misstep, and I am concerned that such recklessness could spark an uncontrolled conflict,” Reed said in a statement.
The administration has “failed to engage with Congress during this latest military build-up,” he added. “It is easy to start a war; finishing one is much harder.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
President Donald Trump said Saturday he is raising global tariffs to 15% from the 10% import tax he imposed the day before in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down his sweeping tariffs.
“Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court, please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been ‘ripping’ the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump had initially set the global tariffs at 10% in an executive order on Friday evening. Those tariffs, enacted under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, are in effect for 150 days unless Congress approves its extension.
On Saturday, he upped that figure to 15%. The sudden increase was met with immediate criticism from both sides of the aisle.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it a “dumb” move. “He’s just making it up as he goes and Americans pay the price,” Schumer said on X.
“Trump’s commitment to pickpocketing the American people is relentless,” House Ways and Means Committee Democrats wrote on X. “A little over 24 hours after his tariffs were ruled illegal, he’s doing anything he can to make sure he can still jack up your costs.”
Scott Lincicome, vice president of general economics at the right-leaning CATO Institute, wrote“Clearly, this is all a very legitimate and rigorous ‘balance of payments’ remedy under the statute here. Yet another reason why congress needs to reform the law.”
Trump has been seething over the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the tariffs he imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Three conservative justices — Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts — sided with their liberal colleagues in the ruling, which The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board called “a monumental vindication of the Constitution’s separation of powers.”
At a news conference on Friday, Trump said he was “ashamed of certain members of the court” and accused the justices of being “unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.” He claimed without providing evidence that the court was “swayed by foreign interests and a political movement that is far smaller than people would ever think.”
He singled out Gorsuch and Barrett, two of his appointees to the high court, in a post on Truth Social later that day, saying that they “vote against the Republicans, and never against themselves, almost every single time, no matter how good a case we have.”
He then continued his streak into Saturday morning, lavishing praise on the conservative justices who disagreed with the majority decision.
“My new hero is United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and, of course, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito,” Trump wrote. “There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The additional 5% increase on the tariffs he hastily imposed on Saturday could further shake global markets, which have been rattled by the president’s unpredictable tariff threats.
The Supreme Court ruling raised more uncertainty for consumerswho were left wondering whether they might be reimbursed for all the extra money they paid for goods and products over the past year.
While the court didn’t explicitly address reimbursement, Kavanaugh did in his dissent, saying, “Refunds of billions of dollars would have significant consequences for the U.S. Treasury. The Court says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the Government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
Almost immediately after federal judges in the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday appointed a veteran litigator as interim U.S. attorney, a position previously held by Lindsey HalliganDeputy Attorney General Todd Blanche shut it down.
James Hundley, a defense attorney with more than 35 years of experience, was unanimously appointed to serve as the top federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday afternoon.
But shortly after Hundley’s appointment, Blanche sounded off on social media.
“Here we go again. EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does,” Blanche wrote in a post on X.“James Hundley, you’re fired!”
The top prosecutor position in the powerful Virginia office has been vacant since Halligan — an insurance lawyer personally chosen by President Donald Trump to pursue criminal charges against his perceived political rivals in the role — stepped down last month, after she was chewed out by two federal judges over her unlawful appointment.
Federal judges can appoint a U.S. attorney if a nominee has not been confirmed within 120 days. Justice Department officials have maintained, however, that it should be up to Trump to make those appointments.
Hundley is not the first casualty of the administration’s assertion of authority over the appointment of interim federal prosecutors. Last week, the White House fired Donald Kinsella hours after he was sworn in as U.S. attorney in the Northern District of New York.
“Judges don’t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does. See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella,” Blanche wrote on X at the time.
In July, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired Desiree Leigh Grace as U.S. attorney for New Jersey the same day she was appointed by federal judges. Grace was tapped to replace Alina Habba, who, like Halligan, is a personal ally of Trump.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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