President Trump on Friday said a potential US court ruling denying his authority to impose a wide range of global tariffs could have devastating impacts on the US economy.
“If a Radical Left Court ruled against us at this late date, in an attempt to bring down or disturb the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen, it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “It would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!”
Data from the Treasury Department showed the government brought in $26.6 billion in customs duties in June, an increase from $22.2 billion in May, bringing the tally for the government’s fiscal year to $108 billion. Final figures from Treasury for July’s tariff-related haul are expected next week. A court ruling could force the government to pay back these receipts.
Multiple challenges to Trump’s tariffs are pending in US federal courts, specifically related to the president’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or “IEEPA,” which says presidents have authority to “regulate importation” to address a national economic emergency.
Read more: 5 ways to tariff-proof your finances
Justice Department lawyers and lawyers for a group of small business importers who are challenging the tariffs imposed under this authority argued their positions before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 31.
The Court could nullify or uphold the duties at any time.
The case was appealed to the circuit court by the Justice Department after the Court of International Trade held the tariffs invalid.
The lawyers and judges sparred over whether IEEPA permits the president to levy duties at all, and spent considerable time debating whether the president’s declared national emergencies — illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs into the US — met IEEPA’s requirements of “unusual” and “extraordinary.”
The president’s post speculated about the Circuit Court’s ideological composition, composed of seven judges appointed by former Democratic presidents and four appointed by Republican presidents.
“There is no way America could recover from such a judicial tragedy,” Trump wrote, “but I know our Court System better than anyone, there is no one in history that has gone through the trials, tribulations and uncertainties such as I, and absolutely terrible, but also amazingly beautiful, things can happen.”
Trump’s legal team has cited a Nixon-era ruling on a law that preceded the IEEPA as offering the legal standing for the president’s tariffs to be upheld.
Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on X @alexiskweed.
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