US President Donald Trump’s administration is continuing its talks with trading partners despite a US appeals court ruling that most of Trump’s tariffs are illegal, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday.
“Our trading partners, they continue to work very closely with us on negotiations,” he said in an interview with Fox News. “People are moving forward with their deals, regardless of what this court may say in the interim.”
Greer did not say which countries the US was still in talks with, but said he had spoken with one trade minister on Saturday morning.
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The ruling threatens what has become a pillar of Trump’s foreign policy since starting his second term in the White House in January. He has used the levies imposed on imported goods to exert political pressure and renegotiate trade deals even as the tariffs have increased volatility in financial markets.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Friday said that while the US Congress gave the president significant authority to act in response to a national emergency, lawmakers did not “explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like, or the power to tax.”
Trump on Friday blasted the decision and vowed to take the case to the US Supreme Court.
The appeals court said his tariffs could remain in effect through Oct. 14 to allow for appeals.
Trade experts said the Trump administration had been bracing for the ruling and preparing alternative plans to be able to proceed with its tariffs.
“If other countries are looking at this and thinking they’re going to get tariff relief, they’re in for a unpleasant surprise. There are backup options upon backup options, even if the Supreme Court ends up agreeing with the appeals court,” Atlantic Council international economics chair Josh Lipsky said.
One option would be to turn to Section 338 of a 1930 trade law that allows the US president to impose duties of up to 50 percent against imports from countries that are found to discriminate against US commerce, he said.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News that the administration was optimistic the conservative Supreme Court would back Trump’s tariffs.
Republican US Senator James Lankford said companies he has talked to want the issue settled.
“Every time there’s a new court hearing, every time there’s a new change, it’s destabilizing for every one of our businesses. So let’s get all these things resolved as quickly as we possibly can,” he told NBC News.
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