White House ‘Very Optimistic’ Supreme Court Will Strike Down Tariff Ruling, Navarro Says

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

Top White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said that an Aug. 29 court ruling that struck down most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs would cause negative economic consequences, but he said he’s “very optimistic” that the Supreme Court will overturn the order.

In a 7–4 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Trump’s reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled in April are mostly illegal.

″This was weaponized partisan injustice at its worst,” Navarro told Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” in an interview that aired on Aug. 31, calling the majority that made the decision “politicians in black robes.”

Nevertheless, Navarro told the outlet that he is “very optimistic” that the U.S. Supreme Court would scrap the appeals court order.

“The dissent was very, very strong,“ he said, adding that it ”provides a road map for the Supreme Court.”

“If we lose the case, President Trump is right: It will be the end of the United States,” he said.

The ruling said that Trump had overstepped his presidential authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to apply proportional tariffs against U.S. trade partners around the world based on trade imbalances they had with the United States. The president also invited countries to renegotiate their trade agreements with the United States to reduce or eliminate these planned tariffs.

“The statute bestows significant authority on the President to undertake a number of actions in response to a declared national emergency, but none of these actions explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like, or the power to tax,” the court stated.

The court ruling won’t take effect until Oct. 14, allowing the administration to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Since taking office in January, Trump has made tariffs a pillar of foreign policy, saying they are a way to correct unfair trade practices by countries that export goods to the United States and to reshore manufacturing. The Trump administration has also used tariffs as leverage against countries—particularly China, Canada, and Mexico—that it says haven’t done enough to prevent drug trafficking and illegal immigration into the United States.

The president responded to the court ruling hours after the Aug. 29 order was issued, saying such a move would “literally destroy the United States of America.” He also signaled that he believes the Supreme Court would scrap the order.

“ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote later that day that the Department of Justice will appeal the judges’ decision, stating that Trump “found there was a national emergency and took action under the law by imposing tariffs.”

“The judges of the Federal Circuit are interfering with the President’s vital and constitutionally central role in foreign policy,” she wrote in a post on X. “This decision is wrong and undermines the United States on the world stage.”

The court did not scrap tariffs that Trump has imposed on steel and aluminum, meaning that those duties will remain intact.