AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The Supreme Court on Friday delivered a stunning decision saying that President Trump doesn't have an emergency power to raise tariffs - a major promise of his. But the president says he's going to raise global tariffs by 15% anyway, under a different authority. On Friday, he said he was disappointed with the judges who voted no.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They're against anything that makes America strong, healthy and great again. They also are a frankly disgrace to our nation, those justices.
RASCOE: And the world braces for possible strikes on Iran as Trump beefs up U.S. military presence in the Middle East. We're joined now by NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Welcome to the program, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi there.
RASCOE: Well, you're always here. But, you know, welcome.
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RASCOE: Let's start with those tariffs. Trump was not happy with the court's decision, was he?
LIASSON: No. He was hopping mad as expected. He said the Supreme Court justices were disloyal, unpatriotic, they were swayed by foreign interests, they were an embarrassment, the decision was anti-American. He called them lapdogs and fools. The significance of this ruling was really big. I mean, this is the first time that the Supreme Court ruled on the merits, and this is a court that has a conservative supermajority appointed by Trump to put the brakes on Trump's efforts to expand executive power. They stood up for checks and balances. They reaffirmed the powers of Congress, which is supposed to be a coequal branch of government, at a time when Congress seems unwilling to do that for itself.
RASCOE: Well, now President Trump says he's just going to raise the tariffs anyway under a different authority. Can he do that?
LIASSON: The short answer is yes, he can. He says he's going to put global tariffs of 15% on all foreign goods. He's going to use a different section of the Trade Act, but those sections are much more cumbersome than the legal authority under which he claims sweeping powers. For instance, some of the tariffs will only last 150 days before Congress has to weigh in. Others could be permanent, but they require lengthy investigations.
RASCOE: So how much does this matter that we are in a midterms year?
LIASSON: It matters a lot. The politics of this are very complicated, and they're shifting. At first, this ruling looked like a godsend for Republicans. They were breathing a sigh of relief. The Supreme Court saved them from tariffs, which were costing consumers money, adding to voters' dissatisfaction with the economy. Sixty percent of voters say they disapprove of Trump's tariffs, and they thought that they would no longer have to defend these unpopular tariffs and maybe prices would go down. But that optimism lasted about five minutes because Trump immediately said that not only was he going to put more tariffs on under a different authority, but that authority calls for congressional approval. So now Republicans in Congress are going to have to show their loyalty to Donald Trump by voting to impose tariffs, taking personal responsibility for this. This is something they don't want to do. Now, he might back off if he doesn't have the votes. We did see six House Republicans join Democrats to vote against Trump's tariffs on Canada.
RASCOE: And the bad news keeps coming for the administration. And, I mean, it's not good for the country. The economic report on Friday was not very good.
LIASSON: No, it's just one quarter, but GDP did not grow as much as expected, just 1.4%. Inflation is still high at 3%, and this comes at a time when the midterm elections - the No. 1 issue for voters is affordability, and Republicans and the president have been on the back foot on that issue.
RASCOE: Meanwhile, the world is waiting to see if Trump is going to follow up on this threat to bomb Iran. What are you hearing on that?
LIASSON: Well, he sent a - the most massive buildup of U.S. military strength to the Persian Gulf since 2003. So if he decides he wants to make a major military strike on Iran, he has the weapons ready in the Middle East to do that. But no one is quite sure what he's going to decide. He says he's prefer a deal where Iran agrees to give up its nuclear program. And in the past, Trump has shown that he prefers military actions that you could call one-and-done, a quick bombing raid on Iran's nuclear facilities or a quick raid into Venezuela to nab Nicolás Maduro. We don't know if he has the stomach for a long, protracted fight. And if he wants to change the regime in Iran, that's what it would entail.
RASCOE: So State of the Union is on Tuesday. What will you be listening for?
LIASSON: Well, the timing of this is really incredible. The State of the Union is the president's biggest opportunity to speak to the public, any president's biggest opportunity. It's their biggest audience of the year. And the big question for me is how much time Trump will spend in his State of the Union address excoriating the Supreme Court justices, who will be sitting right in front of him. And how much time will he talk about affordability? How much time will he spend trying to convince voters that he is lowering prices? This is something that he has struggled to do consistently for many months.
RASCOE: That's NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you so much.
LIASSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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