Feb 20 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court has taken away President Donald Trump’s leverage with its decision to strike down tariffs imposed under a law meant for use in national emergencies, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday.
“The Supreme Court has taken away the President’s leverage, but in a way, they have made the leverage that he has more draconian because they agreed he does have the right to a full embargo,” Bessent told “The Will Cain Show” on Fox News.
“We will get back to the same tariff level for the countries. It will just be in a less direct and slightly more convoluted manner,” he said.
Trump reacted to the court’s ruling on Friday by saying he would invoke other laws to collect tariffs, and announced a blanket 10% tariff on imports from all other countries.
Bessent said he believed every country was going to honor the trade agreements made with the Trump administration over the last year.
“He (Trump) has a right to a complete embargo, he can just cut countries off … or he can cut whole product lines off. We can’t receive any money. So, I would call on all countries to honor their agreements and move forward,” Bessent added.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Ismail Shakil;Editing by David Ljunggren)
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