U.S. President Donald Trump has strongly criticized a federal appeals court ruling that declared tariffs imposed by his administration illegal. He claimed that without these tariffs, the United States would have been “totally destroyed” and its military power would have collapsed.
On Monday (September 1), Indian media outlet NDTV reported the news.
Trump warned that without the tariffs his administration had imposed, the U.S. would have been “completely destroyed” and the country’s military strength “would have been instantly wiped out.” He made the remarks on Sunday local time, following a U.S. federal appeals court ruling that most of the tariffs imposed by his administration were unlawful.
Posting on his platform Truth Social, Trump harshly criticized the court’s verdict. He wrote, “Without tariffs, and without the trillions of dollars in revenue we have already collected, our country would have been totally destroyed, and our military strength would have been instantly annihilated.”
He further said:
“By a 7-4 vote, the ‘far-left judges’ ruled in favor of canceling these tariffs. But one Democratic judge, appointed by Obama, showed courage and patriotism by voting to protect the United States. I am grateful to him.”
According to CNN, last Friday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declared several tariffs imposed under the Trump administration unlawful. The court said that the president had abused emergency powers to impose these tariffs, which amounted to an unprecedented overreach of executive authority. Under the U.S. Constitution, the power to impose taxes and tariffs lies with Congress.
However, the court stated that the tariffs will remain in effect for now. The ruling has been stayed until October to allow the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Earlier on Friday, Trump had also criticized the court’s decision as biased. Writing on Truth Social, he said:
“All tariffs are still in place! A highly biased appeals court wrongly said they should be lifted. But they know that, in the end, the United States will win. If these tariffs are removed, the country will face disaster and become financially weakened. But we must stay strong.”
