“Last night, the Trump administration faced another example of judicial overreach,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump, Leavitt argued, had used his “full and proper legal authority” in ordering the “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2 to “address the extraordinary threat to our national security and economy posed by large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits”.
“America cannot function if President Trump, or any other president for that matter, has their sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations railroaded by activist judges,” the press secretary said.
“These other countries should also know and they do know that [Trump] reserves other tariff authorities, Section 232, for example,” she continued, citing the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 that authorises an American president to adjust imports if they are determined to be a threat to national security.
