Vice President JD Vance told Newsmax on Thursday that President Donald Trump has “very broad discretion” when it comes to imposing tariffs after declaring a national emergency.
He also said in an exclusive interview on “Greg Kelly Reports” that he disagrees with a ruling Wednesday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade that issued an injunction against the tariffs on most U.S. trading partners because Trump exceeded his constitutional authority.
Earlier in the day, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted an emergency motion to halt the trade court’s injunction, siding with the Trump administration’s argument that halting the injunction during the appeals process is “critical for the country’s national security.”
Had that not happened, the administration signaled it would file another emergency appeal with the Supreme Court as soon as Friday.
“First of all, I think the [trade court was] wrong and I think we’re going to win this case on appeal,” Vance said. “The president has very broad discretion to engage in foreign policy to actually protect American consumers from foreign creditors, from people who are trying to access our markets, dump it to our markets, destroy American industries.
“The president has a lot of power to prevent that stuff from happening. Now, this court decision, I think, is really based on a legal technicality, and so my second point is the president also has broad discretion to deal with this stuff.”
Trump used his powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose the tariffs. But the trade court ruled it “does not read IEEPA to confer such unbounded authority” before issuing the injunction.
“Even if you somehow have this legal technicality hold up in court, I think there are a lot of ways in which the president of the United States can protect American workers from these very, very unfair trade practices,” Vance said.
“And I think it’s important, Greg, to say, OK, what does this mean for the American people? We believe, and we’re right, that we are in an emergency.”
Vance said the U.S. in vulnerable to foreign governments that could withhold critical supplies, and the tariffs provide protection and leverage against such action.
“I’m not talking about toys, plastic toys,” he said. “I’m talking about pharmaceutical ingredients. I’m talking about the critical pieces of the manufacturer of the supply chain. If these governments are threatening to cut us off from that stuff, that is by definition a national emergency.
“And in that national emergency, the president has very broad discretion to fight back to bring American industry back home and to make American consumers protected and much safer. That’s all he’s trying to do.
“So, whatever this [trade] court has said, the president has the authority to do his job. We’re going to keep on fighting the court cases. We’re also going to keep on doing the work for the American people.”
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