President Donald Trump is not looking for a new “prettier word” in the dictionary to replace his beloved tariffs.
True to his philosophy of never accepting defeat, he is already fighting back after the Supreme Court declared the exercise of his emergency trade war powers illegal.
Ahead of his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump is vowing to avenge the most damaging defeat of his second term by promising even higher tariffs on imports. Many Republicans, however, would prefer a course correction as the midterm elections approach.
The president’s rebellion brings great political risks for him and his party, as well as new uncertainties for an unstable economy. This is also already opening the way for new attacks from Democrats.
But he is still convinced that tariffs will bring prosperity, even if the most likely result is a rise in the cost of living for millions of American voters.
“What the Supreme Court said is that the president cannot use (IEEPA) to do this,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday. “The president has other authorities.”
Bessent said on “State of the Union” that Trump will reinforce his tariffs using other laws as a five-month “bridge” to a more permanent regime.
But Democratic Sen. Andy Kim told CNN’s Manu Raju on “Inside Politics” that his party was already working on legislation to force Trump to reimburse consumers for the higher costs caused by the tariffs — the first in a series of moves likely designed to embarrass the president and make life difficult for Republican lawmakers.
Why Trump can’t abandon tariffs
Trump will continue to push for two main reasons.
First, he believes in tariffs with fervent intensity. Their faith in them is so intense that they ignore any evidence that they are a tax on consumers or that they don’t work. He considers the globalization’s destruction of industrial centers, where he won millions of votes, as a justification for the protectionist views he has held since the 1980s.
“I have used tariffs very effectively over the last year to make America great again,” the president said Friday, ignoring new data showing an unchanging annual trade deficit and a decline in manufacturing jobs.
The second reason for Trump’s refusal to concede is that tariffs are a means to achieve his ultimate goals of unfettered presidential authority and rejection of a constitutional system that, by definition, divides power among government agencies.
This was evident in the most telling comment from Trump’s fiery press conference on Friday following the court ruling, when he was asked why he didn’t simply work with Congress to pass new tariffs.
“I don’t need to do that. I have the right to apply tariffs,” he said.
Trump has used tariffs more widely than any other modern president, in ways that go far beyond economic policy. If a foreign country angers you, it is punished — as happened with Brazil, which received a 50% tariff for investigating its friend, former president Jair Bolsonaro, for alleged election interference. If a world leader does not show enough deference, his country pays the price. Trump explained, for example, that he raised tariffs on Switzerland after being offended by the way its leader “spoke to us” — apparently referring to former president Karin Keller-Sutter.
But showing such strength will be more difficult from now on.
The alternative powers Trump now plans to use to maintain the tariffs contain compliance requirements and more limited authorities, which may mean he won’t be able to use the tariffs as a personal thermostat to turn up the pressure at his whim.
Trump has a straightforward, transactional worldview. He sees restrictions on his tariff influence as weakening the U.S. relative to rivals he perceives as incessant exploiters of the world’s most powerful economy. The could jeopardize his trade war ahead of planned summits with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this year.
“The foreign countries that have been exploiting us for years are ecstatic, they are very happy and they are dancing in the streets, but they won’t be dancing for long — I can guarantee that,” the president said Friday.
A dark historical omen
Bessent explained on CNN that the government would respond to the loss of emergency powers with other legal instruments. These include taxes justified by national security, known as Section 232 tariffs, and those that target foreign countries for unfair trade practices, called Section 301 tariffs.
But Bessent avoided answering whether the government should reimburse companies and consumers affected by the higher tariffs — which are, in practice, a tax. He said this “is not up to the government, but up to the lower court.”
This may be a legally tenable position for now. But it is politically dangerous.
“This government has taken money out of the pockets of American families, more than $1,700 per family. They should give it back,” Kim told CNN. “We are working on legislation that would allow us to return this refund to the American people.”
Trump wasted no time following the Supreme Court’s decision to impose a 10% global tariff on all goods, which he later increased to 15% using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. But it would be necessary to extend such an action beyond 150 days. Few Republican lawmakers would like a mid-July vote on an issue that polls show is deeply unpopular.
One long-term option available to the government is to use the 1930 Smoot-Hawley legislation to enact new tariffs. But this would provoke a legal challenge from those who believe that subsequent acts of Congress superseded those powers.
And it may not be politically smart to invoke a notorious law blamed for worsening the Great Depression when voters are already unhappy with Trump’s economy.
Trump has already faced several Republican revolts over the tariffs. Now, every vote on the issue will be even more important. Once the primary season ends, Trump will have less leverage to pressure Republican rebels. More lawmakers could follow the lead of Rep. Jeff Hurd of Colorado, who joined Democrats in voting against Canada’s tariffs, saying they hurt voters and industry in his district.
Critics say the tariffs are causing too much harm and generating too few benefits. But U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump inherited an emergency and had already transformed global trade.
“Immediately, all of our trading partners around the world came together to negotiate market opening agreements with us. And we protected our industries immediately. So it’s exactly the right thing to do,” Greer said.
Newsom: “He’s a stunned boxer”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, has a two-pronged argument that takes aim at voters’ economic concerns and Trump’s temperament.
“It’s a destructive presidency. He’s destroying the economy. His entire economic paradigm is based on mass deportations, tax cuts for billionaires and tariffs. And he’s been exposed. He’s a fraud,” Newsom said on “State of the Union.”
“I talk about cockiness. It was 10% two days ago, maybe 20% tomorrow. I mean, that’s crazy. He’s flailing. He’s a dazed boxer. He’s just trying to hit anything, a shadow. And he’s a shadow of himself. He’s lost a step or two.”
But Trump won’t change. He can’t. To do so, he would have to reject everything he believes about power, the presidency and himself.
“Frankly, this should have been done by presidents many years ago. They allowed our country to be eaten alive,” Trump said Friday.
