A US federal court's decision to block US President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on imports has no impact on the progress of US trade talks with other countries, said Kevin Hassett, the head of the White House National Economic Council.
“No, not at all“, he said in an interview with Fox Business in response to a question on the subject. “It certainly won't affect the progress of the talks, because ultimately people know that Trump is absolutely serious about this.“
Hassett added that several US trade agreements with other countries could be announced soon. “Last week, I saw three [deals] awaiting the president's decision. "I don't know if they've been discussed with him [Trump], but yes, there are a lot of deals that are expected and in fact there are three that have already been agreed," he said, without specifying which countries Washington has already reached fundamental agreements with.
Furthermore, the head of the White House National Economic Council expressed confidence that the Trump administration will successfully appeal the US court's decision. "The idea that the fentanyl crisis in America is not an emergency, I think, is so outrageous that our appeal will overturn the court's decision," he said.
However, Hassett said the government has a number of measures that could be used to offset the trade tariff blockade. "There are three or four ways, but we're not going to go into details right now," he said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission blocked Trump's decision to impose import tariffs, arguing that he abused his presidential powers. The court's ruling blocked not only the retaliatory tariffs on products from 185 countries and regions that Trump announced on April 2, but also previously imposed tariffs on imports from Canada, China and Mexico over the alleged failure of those governments to do enough to combat the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States.
In turn, the television company CNN explained that the court's decision did not apply to the tariffs on the supply of cars and spare parts for them, steel and aluminum. They were introduced under the Trade Expansion Act. The court ruled that Trump exceeded his authority under another law. This means that the regulation will affect the 30% tariff on supplies from China, the 25% tariff on imports of certain goods from Mexico and Canada, as well as universal tariffs of 10%. The Trump administration has already indicated that it will appeal the verdict.
At the end of April, 12 US states filed a lawsuit in the US Federal Court of International Trade, requesting the cancellation of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. In addition to causing harm to the US economy, the head of state was accused of unfoundedly declaring a state of emergency to bypass Congress and change the country's tariff policy. The Oregon Attorney General initiated the appeal to the court. It was supported by the states of Arizona, Vermont, Delaware, Illinois, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Maine, Nevada, New York and New Mexico.