White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had harsh words Thursday for the three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of International Trade that blocked some of President Trump’s sweeping tariff proposals.
Ms. Leavitt blasted the ruling as “judicial overreach,” saying it’s the latest in a series of rulings by federal judges to block the president’s authority.
“There is a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the president’s decision-making process,” she said at the daily White House press briefing.
Turning to the tariff decision, Ms. Leavitt said the judges “brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump to stop him carrying out the mandate that the American people gave him.”
Ms. Leavitt insisted that other countries are still willing to make trade deals with the administration, saying that the court’s decision will ultimately be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Other countries around the world … have faith in the negotiator-in-chief President Donald J. Trump and they see how ridiculous the ruling is,” Ms. Leavitt said, adding that the administration will prevail on appeal.
She noted that Mr. Trump has other tariff power authorities, including Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which grants presidents broad power to adjust imports – including through the use of tariffs – if excessive foreign imports are found to be a threat to U.S. national security.
She said turning to other methods to impose tariffs does not negate Mr. Trump’s original plan to impose tariffs.
The Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday that Mr. Trump had overstepped his authority in imposing the tariffs. The court rejected Mr. Trump’s reliance on the 1977 International Economic Emergency Powers Act to impose sweeping reciprocal tariffs on the grounds that the U.S. trade deficit represented a national emergency. He imposed tariffs under the IEEPA on China, Canada and Mexico to address concerns about fentanyl and illegal migration.
