In the context of a federal court ruling deciding that much of the tariffs of the Donald Trump administration are illegal, the US President's top economic advisers still affirmed that they will not abandon the tax strategy to put trade pressure on countries.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday on June 1, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick affirmed: rest assured, the tariffs will not disappear.
He also stressed that President Donald Trump has no intention of extending the highest rate of tax suspension - which was suspended for 90 days and will expire in early July. This increases the likelihood that controversial tariffs will officially take effect, despite market fluctuations.
On April 2, Mr. Trump signed an executive decree imposing counterpart tariffs on imports from other countries. The basic tax rate is 10%, while for 57 countries, the higher tax rate applied from April 9 is calculated based on the US trade deficit with each specific country.
However, on April 9, Mr. Trump said that more than 75 countries have not implemented retaliatory measures and requested negotiations, so the basic import tax rate of 10% will take effect and postpone the higher tax rate for 90 days for all countries except China.
The declaration of no extension of the tax postponement was just a few days after a Federal Trade Court concluded that Mr. Trump abused an emergency economic power law to deploy a global trade war. However, an appellate court then temporarily suspended the decision to allow the government to appeal and pave the way for the incident that could be taken to the Supreme Court.
Despite the legal risks, the White House remains confident. On social media, Trump wrote that any ruling against his tariff policies would see the US held by other countries and lead to economic collapse.
Advisors also rejected the president's failed attempt to reach a series of trade deals. Despite having declared that it would sigree 90 agreements within 90 days, the government has only reached a preliminary framework agreement with the UK. However, Mr. Lutnick called the impact of the lawsuit at most taking a week, and asserted that the US would reach first-class agreements.
Meanwhile, tensions with China continue. Last week, Mr. Trump accused Beijing of failing to comply with a temporary agreement on tax cuts, and announced a doubling of steel import tariffs from 25% to 50%.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that China is "hoarding" by stopping exports of rare earth - a vital raw material for the global supply chain. He also defended the decision to increase steel tariffs, saying it was a necessary measure to protect jobs in the US steel industry, despite admitting it would affect the complex construction ecosystem.
