Examining Foreign Policy Impacts of Overturning Trump's Tariffs

And joining us now to unpack the foreign policy impacts of the ruling overturning President Trump's tariffs is Brian Kelsey. He is a senior attorney at the America First Policy Institute. Brian, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you here. A big ruling today, your reaction and how big of a setback is this for the Trump administration? Well, look, President Trump lost the battle today, but he will win this tariff war. He has already identified multiple other laws that he can use to impose these tariffs. On that note, here's Treasury Secretary Scott Bassett weighing in. Let's actually listen to a clip of that now. Six justices simply ruled that IEPA authorities cannot be used to raise even $1 of revenue. This administration will invoke alternative legal authorities to replace the IEPA tariffs. We will be leveraging Section 232 and Section 301 tariff authorities that have been validated through thousands of legal challenges. Treasury's estimates show that the use of Section 122 authority combined with potentially enhanced Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs will result in virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026. Your thoughts on that and what we can expect to see next from the Trump administration regarding tariffs? Yes, at American First Policy Institute, we supported the president's position in this case. We do think that the Supreme Court got it wrong, but the amicus brief that was submitted on our behalf actually identified one of these other laws that President Trump can use to issue these tariffs. And even at oral argument, Justice Alito asked the president's lawyer, well, can't the president just come right back here and issue tariffs under another one of these laws? And then we'll have to litigate this all over again for a whole nother year. And meanwhile, he'll be imposing the exact same tariffs at the exact same amounts. And the answer then was yes. And the answer today is yes. And that's why we saw that that's exactly what President Trump did this morning. In reaction, he was ready for this, and he issued 10% across the board tariffs against all countries. And he has authority under other laws to begin investigations to make sure that other countries do their job and pay their fair share. On that note, what does this ruling mean for President Trump's plan to restructure global trade? Well, President Trump is winning these trade wars. He's got trillions of dollars that are being pledged to be invested in America. He's winning for American workers. The economy is larger than it's ever been. The trade deficit is lower than it has been. And at the end of the day, jobs are coming back here to America. So he's gotten countries—the most recent one, of course, was India—that have taken their tariffs down against America to zero. So he's using tariffs to leverage the power of the American economy and the American worker to get good deals for our goods in other countries. And he's going to continue to do that, as Secretary Nielsen said. He's just going to have to use other laws to do it. A big focus from the start has been China. How does this change the dynamic with China, or does it? Well, those negotiations with China, of course, have been going on for quite some time. And the president still has other arrows in his quiver now to use in those negotiations against China. He will still be able to leverage American tariffs to make sure that China no longer gives us a raw deal. If they're going to be imposing unfair tariffs on us, then we're going to turn around and do the same thing. But I do think that what we will ultimately see, because he still has that leverage and that power under other laws, is I do think that there will be a ratcheting down of that rhetoric as China and the U.S. negotiate toward lower tariff rates on one another. Now, expanding on that, the House Select Committee on the CCP weighed in, saying China's predatory trade practices have hollowed out American manufacturing and threatened our national security for decades. Tariffs remain one of the most effective tools to confront the CCP's economic aggression and level the playing field for American workers. Now, they call on Congress to pass the Restoring Trade Fairness Act to revoke China's privileged trade status. Your thoughts on the Restore Act and if Congress will pass it? Well, I do think that there's bipartisan support in Congress for holding the Chinese accountable. I mean, the reality is there have been lots of countries that have taken advantage of America for many years under many presidents. And President Trump is really the first one to stand up for the American worker and say, you're not going to take advantage of us like this anymore. If you're going to impose these ridiculously high tariff rates on us, then we're going to turn around and do it on you. And so I think that because he's taken that strong stand, I do think that he will get support in Congress from both parties behind this idea. And speaking more of China, here is the president today weighing in after the ruling. Let's listen to a clip of that now. We are being ripped off by almost every single country in the world had massive, some massive surpluses. China had hundreds of billions of dollars in surpluses with the United States. They rebuilt China. They rebuilt the army. We built China's army by allowing that to happen. I have a great relationship with President Xi, but he respects our country now. Now, what we've done, I charged China a 20 percent tariff as a penalty for sending fentanyl in. And that was 20 times more than they could make by selling fentanyl. And I said, you know, at some point you're going to say like, and they have reduced it. You know, fentanyl is down by more than 30 percent coming into our country. And the president is set to visit China end of March, early April. What could this mean for negotiations? Well, I do think that the president is still going to have the negotiating power that he needs. He's going to have the leverage that he needs under these other laws. And I think that by then he will have several of these tariffs in place. Some of them went into place basically today or in the next day or two. But then others are going to require investigations to go through the next few months. The president mentioned maybe as much as five months and then they will be imposed. And so he's got he's got all the tools that he needs in his toolbox. He's just going to have to use other laws. And at the end of the day, three Supreme Court justices have already blessed this idea, as Justice Kavanaugh wrote. There are other laws that will allow the president to continue to do what he has been doing in the past. And so whenever that's litigated over the course of the whole next year, he just has to pick up a couple of more justices out of the remainder. And the majority today said, hey, we're not taking a position on that. So they didn't rule against him on that idea either. And I think they will ultimately be forced to be open to that idea in the law. Brian Kelsey, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.