Trump tariffs brought China to table, halted India-Pakistan conflict, officials tell court
Commerce chief calls ‘tenuous ceasefire’ between South Asian rivals a direct result of president’s power to use levies as a diplomatic tool
The officials claimed that Trump used his tariff power to broker a ceasefire between New Delhi and Islamabad earlier this month and bring about a fragile peace. They further cautioned that trade negotiations with dozens of countries remained in a “delicate state”, with a July 7 deadline to finalise deals fast approaching.
Trump’s use of tariffs as a policy tool has elicited criticism from his opponents over unclear goals and inconsistent messaging in a vaguely defined push to restore American manufacturing.
A three-judge panel at the court is considering whether Trump’s use of a “national emergency” was legally justified to support the tariffs.
If the court limited Trump’s authority, Lutnick argued, “foreign counterparts will have reduced incentives to reach meaningful agreements” and it would “destroy the carefully crafted China trade agreement, which is asymmetric in America’s favour, in order to address the emergency of our persistent goods trade deficit”.