The White House on Thursday sharply criticized a U.S. trade court’s ruling blocking most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, with Kevin Hassett, the head of Trump’s National Economic Council, calling the decision a mere “hiccup” in Trump’s plan caused by “activist judges,” Politico reported.
“In a month or two, you are going to look ahead and see that countries have opened their markets to American products, they have lowered their non-tariff barriers, they have lowered their tariffs and all the countries that have done that are being treated very respectfully and well by U.S.,” Hassett said, adding that countries that don’t abide by Trump’s plan should expect “some form of reciprocal tariffs.”
The court’s decision blocked the tariffs Trump slapped last month on almost all U.S. trading partners and levies he imposed before that on China, Mexico, and Canada.
Trump imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs April 2 of up to 50% on countries with which the United States runs a trade deficit and 10% baseline tariffs on nearly all others.
White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai, posting on X, slammed the deciding judges as “unelected” and said it wasn’t up to them to “decide how to properly address a national emergency. President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.”
Jason Miller, a longtime adviser to Trump, told Fox Business the ruling is evidence that there’s a “deep state.”
“What this really shows is the global deep state is real, this legal deep state. This is their last line of defense — you have these unelected judges who are trying to force their own will when it comes to tax policy, trade policy, and all matters of the economy,” Miller said.
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