Trump: New Tariffs 'Doing Same Thing' as Struck-Down Ones
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- Trump told Fox News his new tariffs are "doing the same thing" as the Supreme Court-rejected ones, just through "a more cumbersome way" — a statement the Liberty Justice Center's CEO said bolsters the group's lawsuit.
- The Liberty Justice Center filed a federal lawsuit Friday accusing the administration of using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 as a pretext to resurrect the struck-down global tariff regime after the temporary 10% worldwide duty expired.
- The Trump administration imposed 10%–12.5% tariffs on goods from more than 80 countries on Friday, citing trade partners' failure to effectively prohibit forced labor.
- The forced-labor duties took effect immediately as Trump's worldwide 10% tariff hit its 150-day time limit; Trump announced that temporary tariff on Feb. 20, the same day the Supreme Court struck down his "liberation day" duties.
- Trump said he'd rather the U.S. leave the USMCA deal than renegotiate it, claiming "Mexico and Canada need us. We don't need them," as the U.S. this month decided not to renew the trilateral pact.
Why it matters: Trump's admission that new tariffs accomplish the "same thing" as the court-rejected ones via a "more cumbersome" legal path was seized by plaintiffs as bolstering their argument that the Section 301 duties are a workaround designed to preserve the same broad tariff regime. The more than 80 countries now facing 10–12.5% tariffs bear the immediate cost of this legal pivot, while the U.S. also walks away from USMCA talks.
