National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Thursday bashed the three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of International Trade that unanimously ruled to halt President Trump’s sweeping tariffs, vowing that the decision will be overturned.
The judges ruled Congress did not delegate “unbounded” tariff authority to the president in the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the linchpin of Trump’s legal defense for his “reciprocal” tariffs on all trading partners and additional tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.
“This trade negotiation season has been really, really effective for the American people, and it’s unfortunate that people would attack it, as the journalists did, or the way the judges just did. These activist judges are trying to slow down something right in the middle of really important negotiations,” Hassett said on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria.”
The three-judge panel is comprised of Judge Timothy Reif, a Trump appointee; Judge Jane Restani, an appointee of former President Reagan; and Judge Gary Katzmann, an appointee of former President Obama.
Hassett insisted the administration feels confident the ruling is “incorrect” and said the appeal will take place before looking at other ways to impose tariffs.
“What’s going to happen is, first, we’re going to see what happens on appeal, and we’re very confident in our success there, because, after all, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Americans have died because of mostly Chinese fentanyl and Chinese fentanyl coming in from Mexico and Canada,” he said.
“There are different approaches that would take a couple of months to put these in place and using procedures that have been approved in the past or approved in the last administration, but we’re not planning to pursue those right now, because we’re very, very confident that this really is incorrect,” he added.
The Justice Department almost immediately appealed Wednesday’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The administration warned in court filings that the ruling “jeopardizes ongoing negotiations with dozens of countries by severely constraining the President’s leverage and undermining the premise of the ongoing negotiations.”
Additionally, the administration could seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court if the request is denied.
The ruling guts Trump’s trade agenda by halting the 10 percent tariffs on all trading partners and the “reciprocal” tariffs that are currently on pause for 90 days, as well as the tariffs imposed on Canada, Mexico and China, with the argument of stopping international drug cartels and the spread of fentanyl into the U.S.
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