President Donald J. Trump on Friday reportedly delivered a stark warning about the stakes of a looming Supreme Court decision, saying the United States could be forced to pay back “trillions and trillions of dollars” to foreign governments if his signature tariff policy is struck down.
In a wide-ranging interview on Fox & Friends, Mr. Trump defended the global tariffs he imposed during his presidency, framing them as a bulwark against decades of economic exploitation by other nations.
He spoke as the Court, which recently agreed to hear the case on an expedited basis, prepares to rule on whether the tariffs pass constitutional muster.
“It’s given us a great power to negotiate with other countries that took advantage of us, tremendous power,” Mr. Trump said of the tariffs. “Also, it’s brought in trillions of dollars into our country.”
The tariffs, which targeted a broad array of imports, were challenged by a coalition of foreign governments. They argue that Mr. Trump exceeded executive authority and violated trade commitments.
For Mr. Trump, however, the lawsuit represents a broader struggle between what he describes as common-sense protections for American workers and a global economic order that has long tilted against U.S. interests.
“We have a big case brought by foreign governments because the foreign governments have been ripping us off for years and it’s now in the Supreme Court,” Mr. Trump said. “That case is really important to win because it’s made us a rich country. It’s made us a rich country because I don’t want to call it retribution but we’ve been ripped off.”
The president emphasized the extraordinary financial consequences of a defeat in court. “That Supreme Court case is so important,” he said. “And, frankly, this economy, if we win the tariff case — which we should, on the legal merits, but on common sense merits — we would have to give back trillions of dollars to these countries. Can you imagine? We would have to give back trillions and trillions of dollars because we got it because of tariffs.”
Mr. Trump’s comments underscored the degree to which tariffs have become central to his vision for rebuilding American strength and leverage abroad.
He portrayed the policy as both a source of massive federal revenue and a crucial tool in negotiations, enabling the United States to push back against rivals and partners alike.
Though critics often decry tariffs as a hidden tax on consumers, Mr. Trump described them as a mechanism of fairness, redistributing wealth away from nations that had long manipulated trade deals to their advantage.
The funds collected, he argued, were not a windfall but a recovery of money owed to American workers and industries.
“This economy,” he said, “is strong because we stopped letting them take us for fools.”
As the Supreme Court weighs the case, the outcome could shape not only Mr. Trump’s political legacy but the future of U.S. trade policy.
A victory would solidify his approach as legally sound and economically transformative. A loss, by contrast, could saddle the nation with historic financial liabilities, potentially reversing years of gains.
For Mr. Trump, the matter boils down to a simple calculation of sovereignty and fairness: “We’ve been ripped off,” he said. “We don’t want to be ripped off anymore.”
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