Trump: I Can Create Peace with Tariffs ... Scholars Say the President Has the Right to Enact Tariffs

EXCERPT:

TRUMP: “I can create peace with tariffs. I'm using them for a lot of different reasons. If that power was taken away from the president of the United States, it would be a terrible, terrible day for our country. And I would say many of the things that I have done could be eradicated and the United States would be in a very, very bad, vulnerable position. And these are enemies of the country that are pursuing that lawsuit. And I would hope that that lawsuit would disappear. The country would be in a very different position than it is right now. You would not be stopping wars, you would not be using the power of trade and the power of tariffs to stop wars. I’ve used it as an example. I say to a country that, if you were going to continue to fight, we will put it at 20% or 100% or 300% tariff on your country in dealing with the United States. I haven’t had one country want to take that on, and they have stopped wars. I’ve saved millions of lives using tariffs. So if for any reason the court ruled against, you know, on the legal merits we should be absolutely — almost every single legal scholar said the president has the right to enact tariffs. If you did not have that right, we would be in big trouble because other countries would be able to do it against us and we would not be able to do it against them. So, it would be very unfair to the country.”