ISTANBUL
President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his tariff policy as the Supreme Court considers whether to overturn a measure central to his economic agenda.
“Thanks to the fact that we got elected on Nov. 5, and thanks to what I call the Trump tariffs, business and steel is booming again,” Trump said after touring a Coosa Steel Corp. facility in Georgia.
He said a “large, substantial order” the factory secured in October was due to the impact of tariffs.
“We’re taking in hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said. “We’re going to be taking in next year $900 million in tariffs, unless the Supreme Court said you can’t do it. Can you believe it? That I have to be up here, trying to justify that?”
Calling the policy “common sense,” Trump said it generated $12 billion in revenue that he said supported farmers who had been “taken advantage of by many, many foreign nations.”
“Without tariffs, this country would be in so much trouble right now,” he argued.
The Supreme Court could rule as early as Friday on Trump’s authority to impose sweeping global tariffs enacted last year. An adverse decision would deal a significant economic and political setback to a key policy of his second term.
The case centers on whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act -- which allows a president to regulate imports during a national emergency -- authorizes Trump to impose broad global tariffs without clear limits on their scope or duration.
The Constitution grants Congress the power to set tariffs, and challengers argue Trump exceeded his authority.
The justices heard nearly three hours of oral arguments in November and gave few indications of how they might rule, despite the court’s 6-3 conservative majority.
If the court strikes down the tariffs, the administration could face financial consequences. The government has already distributed $12 billion in tariff revenue to farmers and projects close to $1 billion in tariff revenue next year.