Just days after he publicly criticised Supreme Court justices for striking down most of his tariffs, President Donald Trump avoided a direct confrontation when he faced some of them at his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Justice Elena Kagan were all in attendance. Roberts and Barrett are conservatives, Kagan is a liberal. These three had joined a 6-3 majority ruling against Trump’s tariffs. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, another Trump appointee who had dissented, was also present. Roberts wrote the majority opinion.
The recent 6-3 Supreme Court ruling was a major loss for Trump’s economic plan. Unhappy by the setback, he instantly signed a new order imposing a 15 percent tariff on imports worldwide. These new tariffs fall under a law limiting them to 150 days and are set to take effect “almost immediately.”
Trump pushes tariffs and tough laws in State of the Union
Trump highlighted the trade deals he said were made possible because of tariffs and suggested that money collected from these duties could eventually replace the income tax system. “As time goes by, I believe the tariffs paid for by foreign countries will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love,” he said.
He criticised the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that struck down his emergency tariffs as “very unfortunate” and promised to set up a new tariff system under federal authorities he called “time tested and approved.” For the first time, Trump is invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a 10 percent global tariff, a rate he said he might soon raise to 15 percent. He made it clear that Congress would not need to approve his plan, even though some members of his own party have expressed concern about the sweeping tariffs.
Despite the setback, Trump said most countries and companies would stick to the deals he had already made. “They know the legal power that I, as President, have to make a new deal could be far worse for them. And therefore, they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court’s unfortunate involvement,” he said.
“Congressional action will not be necessary,” he said.
Tariffs as the key to economic turnaround
Trump said tariffs were a major reason for the US economic recovery. “I used these tariffs, took in hundreds of billions of dollars to make great deals for our country, both economically and on a national security basis. Everything was working well. Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars. They were ripping us so badly,” he said.
He added, “These countries are now happy, and so are we. We made deals. The deals are all done. And they’re happy. They’re not making money like they used to, but we’re making a lot of money. There was no inflation, tremendous growth.”
Tariffs as a tool for peace
Trump repeated his claim that tariffs helped prevent conflicts. “Despite the disappointing ruling, these powerful countries saving, it’s saving our country the kind of money we’re taking in. Peace-protecting many of the wars I settled was because of the threat of tariffs. I wouldn’t have been able to settle them without, will remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes. And they have been tested for a long time,” he said. He added that the new tariffs were “a little more complex, but probably better, leading to a solution that will be even stronger than before.
Trump keeps cool around SC justices at State of the Union
When Trump entered the chamber, he greeted each justice individually. During his speech, he called the Supreme Court ruling “disappointing” and “unfortunate,” but offered no further personal attacks. The justices kept a serious, stony-faced expression throughout.
Just a few days earlier, Trump had unleashed a harsh critique of the justices in the majority. He called them a “disgrace to our nation” and said they were “very unpatriotic and disloyal to the Constitution.” He even hinted that foreign influence might have played a role. In that statement, he singled out dissenting justices, including Kavanaugh, for praise. Two justices in the majority, Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, had been appointed by Trump himself.
Supreme Court justices are generally invited to the State of the Union in their official capacity. Usually, only a few attend, and they sit quietly without showing support for any president’s policies. Unlike politicians in the room, they rarely applaud.
Barely six months after returning to the White House, Trump took strong action to reshape the global economic order. On April 2, he announced “reciprocal” taxes of up to 50 percent on imports from countries with which the US had trade deficits and 10 percent “baseline” taxes on almost all other countries. He cited a 1977 law declaring the trade deficit a national emergency to justify the sweeping tariffs.
Initially, he suspended the high tariffs for 90 days to give countries time to negotiate. Some countries agreed to his terms, while those that did not faced harsher tariffs.