Trump says new tariffs achieve same goal as Supreme Court-rejected duties, calls current method 'more cumbersome'

USA: President Donald Trump has acknowledged in a Fox News interview that his new tariffs are functionally equivalent to the ones the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional earlier this year, describing his current approach as “a more cumbersome” way to do the same thing.

“It’s a shame that I have to go a harder way for the tariffs because the Supreme Court, in a very close decision, ruled against me,” Trump said, as quoted by CNBC. “Now, I have other ways of doing the same thing, but it’s a more cumbersome, you know, way of doing it.”

The remarks came four days after a federal lawsuit accused the administration of using different statutory authorities as a pretext to resurrect the same global tariff regime that failed in court.

The administration imposed tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% on goods from more than 80 countries last Friday, citing forced labour concerns, with the new duties taking effect precisely as the previous temporary 10% global tariff hit its 150-day limit and expired. According to CNBC, a senior administration official had told reporters the timing was chosen “to avoid complexity”, and not to serve as a replacement.

Trump also said in the interview that he would rather the US exit its trilateral trade deal with Canada and Mexico, also known as the USMCA, than renegotiate it. “Mexico and Canada need us. We don’t need them,” he said. The US this month decided not to renew the agreement.

Trump dismissed concerns that tariffs could worsen cost-of-living pressures ahead of November’s midterms, claiming instead that “the tariffs have made this country a fortune” and that his use of them had helped stop wars.

In other news, the Supreme Court is currently being asked by the administration to lift a block on Trump’s mail-in voting executive order.

You may read the full story here: Trump takes mail-in voting battle to Supreme Court after two courts block his executive order