The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board blasted “bull-headed” Donald Trump’s decision to respond to the Supreme Court nullifying his precious tariffs with more tariffs.
Trump, amid his fuming at the court, announced on Saturday that he had imposed 15 percent tariffs globally by invoking part of the Trade Act of 1974, which lets the president apply tariffs for a maximum of 150 days.
“The smart play after his legal defeat would be to take an off-ramp and forgo or pause new tariffs,” the Rupert Murdoch-owned Journal’s editorial board wrote on Monday.
However, Trump, it said, “is so bull-headed about tariffs that he’s going to re-impose them any way he can.”
While the new tariffs are more limited in scope and duration, they will still do harm, it added.
“They’ll create more uncertainty for business, at least for a while. And with the midterm elections coming soon, this timing is fraught for Republicans. Amid an ‘affordability’ panic, Mr. Trump says he is going to impose more border taxes on enough imports to make up for his lost emergency tariffs. Democrats must be thrilled at their dumb luck,” it wrote.
The board also criticized the Trump administration for a “bait and switch” regarding its statements about potential refunds to businesses. The government has taken in roughly $200 billion from the tariffs.
“In its statements to the Court, Trump lawyers said the refund process would be a legal breeze,” it noted. “But now the Administration is suggesting it will fight refund requests in court. This is a political bait and switch, and it also delays refunds that could go to more productive economic uses.”
Trump’s fixation on tariffs “looks increasingly like a losing wager for Republicans” ahead of the midterms, the board concluded.
The Journal’s editorial board, which on Friday called the Supreme Court’s ruling and Trump’s unhinged response to it “arguably the worst moment of his presidency,” has taken issue with many other actions by Trump during his second term. It has called him out for threatening to block a bridge to Canada, “bullying” Europe to try to acquire Greenland, using an Afghan national’s shooting of two National Guard members to pause immigration from Afghanistan, and demanding a host of concessions from Harvard in exchange for financial breathing room.
After the board published one of its anti-tariff pieces last April, Trump said the paper had “gone to hell.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment about Monday’s column.
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