Trump warns: We'll be screwed if tariffs are eliminated

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that if the Supreme Court overturns his tariffs, the country would not be able to pay them back and it would take years to resolve the “mess”. Trump added that if the court makes a bad decision, the country will be “screwed.”

Trump referred to the Supreme Court's consideration of the legality of tariffs in a post on the Truth Social platform. He said that if the court rules invalidating the tariffs, the country would have to return hundreds of billions of dollars and would lose investments in the US that other countries have announced as part of trade agreements.

“When you add up these investments, we're talking about trillions of dollars! It would be a complete mess, and it would be virtually impossible for our country to pay it back (…). It may not be possible, but if it were, the amount would be so large that it would take years to figure out how much we're talking about, or even who, when and where to pay,” Trump warned. “In other words, if the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America in this national security case, WE ARE FUCKED!” – he added.

A decision on Trump's tariffs may be made as early as Wednesday, when the Court announced the publication of as yet unspecified rulings.

The case concerns tariffs imposed by Trump under the IEEPA Act, which authorizes the president to impose economic sanctions. TTrump was the first president in history to impose tariffs, based on a law that did not explicitly mention tariffs in the list of permitted activities.. So far, all lower courts have found the tariffs illegal, but have stayed enforcement to allow the Supreme Court to rule on the matter.

Duties imposed under IEEPA include: all tariffs announced during “liberation day”, including 10 percent minimum duty on goods from all over the world. Trump also used the law to increase taxes on imports from India for the country's purchases of Russian crude oil. According to MS NOW television, the country has so far collected USD 133 billion as part of the duties imposed under IEEPA. The issue of potential refund of customs duties was one of the topics discussed by the judges during the December hearing. She said, among others, that such a phrase can be a “mess”. conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who nevertheless seemed skeptical of the legal arguments used by the Trump administration.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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