WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs on Friday, handing him a significant loss on an issue crucial to his economic agenda.
Watch Trump’s remarks in our video player above.
Furious about the defeat, Trump said he will impose a global 10% tariff as an alternative while pressing his trade policies by other means. The new tariffs would come under a law that restricts them to 150 days.
READ MORE: What happens now that the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs?
He made that announcement after lashing out at the Supreme Court for striking down much of his sweeping tariff infrastructure as an illegal use of emergency power. Trump said he was “absolutely ashamed” of justices who voted to strike down his tariffs and called the ruling “deeply disappointing.”
“Their decision is incorrect,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter because we have very powerful alternatives.”
Trump calls ruling ‘deeply disappointing’
Trump said he’s “absolutely ashamed” of justices who voted to strike down his tariffs, calling the decision “deeply disappointing.”
It’s the first major piece of Trump’s broad agenda to come squarely before the nation’s highest court, which he helped shape with the appointments of three conservative jurists in his first term.
Trump called the majority decision “a disgrace” when he was notified during his morning meeting with several governors, according to someone with direct knowledge of the president’s reaction who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversation.
Trump was meeting privately with nearly two dozen governors from both parties when the decision was released. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump thanked Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh “for their strength and wisdom and love of our country” in dissenting from the majority to uphold his tariff policies.
And of the more liberal justices who opposed him, Trump said “you can’t knock their loyalty,” even though he disagrees with their views.
But of more conservatives justices who voted to knock down his tariffs — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch — Trump said, “they’re just being fools and lapdogs for the RINOs and radical left Democrats.”
Without naming them, Trump referred to the jurists by their action as “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution.”
Later in the news conference, the president was clearly fuming at two of the justices he nominated in his first term who sided against his tariff policy.
“I think it’s an embarrassment to their families, if you want to know the truth. The two of them,” Trump said of Gorsuch and Barrett.
He said, “their decision was terrible.”
Still, he declined to say whether he regretted nominating them.
Trump says he has ‘great alternatives’
Trump said “other alternatives will now be used to replace” his sweeping tariffs that the Supreme Court rejected.
“We have alternatives. Great alternatives,” Trump said.
He said the ruling opened the door to allow him to go in “probably a direction that I should have gone in the first time.”
Trump also suggested the ruling may not “substantially constrain” tariffs going forward and mentioned using the Trade Expansion Act and other past laws, including the Tariff Act of 1930 going forward.
He said those alternatives would simple mean a “little bit longer” process.
Trump also scoffed at his ability to order full economic embargoes against countries, but not raise tariffs.
“How ridiculous is that?” he asked.
Trump to impose new tariff, but it’s temporary
On the heels of his Supreme Court defeat, the president said he’ll sign an executive order that would impose a 10% global tariff under federal law known as Section 122.
The catch is that those tariffs would be limited to just 150 days, unless they are extended legislatively.
The president also said he is exploring other tariffs through other avenues, such as Section 232, which would require an investigation through the Commerce Department.
Trump dismisses Congress’ role in tariffs
Despite the rebuke from the Supreme Court, the president is scoffing at the need to get Congress involved in enacting tariff policy.
“I don’t have to,” Trump said when asked why wouldn’t he just work with lawmakers on tariffs. “I have the right to do tariffs, and I’ve always had the right to do tariffs.”
The majority ruled that Congress has the power to write tax policy, which includes tariffs.
Trump is offering mixed messages about the tariffs’ importance
For months, the president has warned that if these tariffs were struck down, it would be a “disaster” for the country and it “would literally destroy the United States of America.”
But as he faced questions about the ruling, Trump repeatedly projected a sunny future for the U.S. and dismissed the idea that the country would face ruin.
He said the ruling gave “certainty” and said “I think you’re going to see the country get much stronger because of it.”
Trump also said the alternative paths he will pursue to try to impose tariffs, while a much more drawn out process, will “get us more money. And I think it’s going to be great.”
Trump says his reading prowess is above reproach
“I read very well. Great comprehension,” Trump said.
The president said that, when it came to the tariffs case, “I read everything there is to read. And I said, ‘Can’t lose this case.'”
But the Supreme Court did in fact rule against Trump’s sweeping tariff policy — an outcome Trump suggested was only possible because “judges want to be political, they want to be politically correct.”
Trump said the justices who voted in the majority against his tariffs are still “barely” invited to Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
But he added that “honestly I couldn’t care less if they come, OK?”
The president gives the State of the Union before a joint session of Congress.
But the chief executive doesn’t issue invitations to the speech, aside from his own special guests.
The House speaker actually invites the president to give the address in the first place, and while there is always reserved seating for members of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts has previously said it’s up to individual justices if they want to attend.
Trump wraps up news briefing after more than 40 minutes
The president wrapped on a positive note, saying that with the ruling, “great certainty has been brought back to the economy of the United States and actually the economy of the world.”
He repeated one of his favorite lines, saying that the U.S. is “the hottest country in the world,” and added: “We’re going to keep it that way.”
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