The White House has vowed to fight a court ruling that Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff scheme is illegal, as his top trade adviser said “nothing has changed” in the president’s drive to strike trade deals with other countries.
The US Court of International Trade ruled late on Wednesday that Trump did not have the authority to use the emergency economic powers legislation that he cited when he imposed sweeping global tariffs last month.
Senior White House officials said the administration would appeal against the decision, and move to stay, or put a hold, on the order.
Trump’s top trade and economic advisers also insisted there were other ways for the president to pursue his global trade war — and that negotiations for deals with other nations would carry on.
“We think we have a strong case. Yes, we will immediately appeal and try to stay the ruling,” Peter Navarro, the chief architect of Trump’s trade wars, told Bloomberg on Thursday morning.
Navarro insisted the court ruling showed the administration could also use different legal bases to impose a baseline 10 per cent tariff and higher “reciprocal” duties on many countries.
“So nothing has really changed here in that sense . . . We are still, as we speak, having countries call us and tell us they want a deal,” Navarro, Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing, added. “These deals are going to happen.”
The ruling by the Court of International Trade comes as the Trump administration is pushing to cut trade deals with dozens of countries.
Wall Street analysts suggested the court ruling would slow down, but not derail, the White House’s plans. US stocks rose after the decision but the rally moderated in morning trading, with the S&P 500 index up just 0.3 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rising 0.6 per cent.
“The administration is likely to either successfully appeal the ruling or to use other authority . . . to keep tariff rates high and revenue substantial,” Citi analysts wrote in a note on Thursday. “For now, the ruling will complicate and potentially delay trade negotiations.”
Goldman Sachs president John Waldron told a conference in New York on Thursday that he still expected the US government to increase tariffs on most countries.
“I think we’re going to go towards a 10 per cent universal baseline tariff with individualised, targeted tariffs on top with individual countries,” Waldron said.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, also insisted that the Trump administration would be able to press ahead with its plans.
“Trump does always win these negotiations because we are right. We are right that America has been mishandled by other governments, that our tariffs are taking them to the table, and they are coming in with massive concessions, opening up their markets to our products and lowering their tariffs on us,” Hassett told Fox Business.
“These activist judges are trying to slow down something right in the middle of really important negotiations.”
Hassett said there were “different approaches” that the administration could take to impose tariffs if required, but added: “We’re not planning to pursue those right now because we’re very, very confident that this really is incorrect.”
Additional reporting by Martin Arnold in New York