Latest news with #Hassett
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Kevin Hassett 'very, very confident' courts will back Trump's tariffs amid legal setback
White House Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett says he remains "very, very confident" that courts will support President Donald Trump's tariff agenda. Hassett made the statement during a Sunday morning appearance on ABC's "This Week," telling host George Stephanopoulos that the White House still expects "Plan A" to work out. "And so we're very thrilled. We are very confident that the judges would uphold this law. And so I think that that's Plan A, and we're very, very confident that Plan A is all we're ever going to need," Hassett said. "But if, for some reason, some judge were to say that it's not a national emergency when more Americans die from fentanyl than have ever died in all American wars combined, that's not an emergency that the president has authority over – if that ludicrous statement is made by a judge somewhere, then we'll have other alternatives that we can pursue as well to make sure that we make American trade fair again," he added. Twelve States Sue Trump Over Tariffs, Claiming They're 'Illegal' And Harmful To Us Economy Hassett's appearance comes after a federal court struck down Trump's tariffs in a ruling last week, only for an appeals court to issue a temporary stay protecting the tariffs during litigation. Read On The Fox News App The appeals court ruling paused a decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT), thus allowing Trump to continue to enact the 10% baseline tariff and the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" that he announced April 2 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. The CIT had ruled unanimously to block the tariffs the day before. Federal Judge Blocks 5 Trump Tariff Executive Orders Members of the three-judge panel who were appointed by Trump, former President Barack Obama and former President Ronald Reagan, ruled unanimously that Trump had overstepped his authority under IEEPA. They noted that, as commander in chief, Trump does not have "unbounded authority" to impose tariffs under the emergency law. For now, the burden of proof shifts to the government, which must convince the court it will suffer "irreparable harm" if the injunction remains in place, a high legal standard the Trump administration must meet. Fox News' Breanne Deppisch contributed to this reportOriginal article source: Kevin Hassett 'very, very confident' courts will back Trump's tariffs amid legal setback
CNBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Trump and Xi are likely to talk soon about trade, though no date has been set, Hassett says
National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett suggested on Sunday that President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping could have a conversation about trade as soon as this week. Hassett said, however, that a specific date for a conversation between the two leaders has not been set. "President Trump, we expect, is going to have a wonderful conversation about the trade negotiations this week with President Xi, that's our expectation," Hassett said on ABC News' "This Week." He followed up by saying that he's not sure if it's been scheduled for a specific date, "but it has been discussed that the two of them will talk about the Geneva agreement, which we're all very favorably inclined towards." The "expectation is that both sides have expressed a willingness to talk," he added. "I'd like to also add that people are talking every day," Hassett said, noting that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer's team is talking with their Chinese counterparts "every day trying to move the ball forward on this matter." A discussion between Trump and Xi would mark a major step in negotiations between the two nations, weeks after leaders of both countries met in Switzerland and reached a 90-day trade deal. But tensions escalated last week, after Trump accused China of violating its preliminary trade agreement with the U.S. "So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!" Trump wrote in a social media post. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump also said that he expected he would likely speak to Xi about the allegations over the trade agreement. Other Trump administration officials have also criticized China in recent days over slow progress on trade negotiations and suggested that future talks would be coming. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that China was "just slow-rolling the deal." "I think slow-rolling is the right way to say it, and I think Donald Trump is on it," Lutnick said on "Fox News Sunday." Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week on Fox News that trade talks with China "are a bit stalled." "I believe that we will be having more talks with them in the next few weeks," he said.
Axios
3 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Trump, Xi to talk this week about trade, key advisor says
President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to talk this week about the ongoing trade negotiations between the world's largest economies, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said Sunday, Why it matters: It would mark a major advance in the increasingly turbulent trade relationship between the countries, and is a step that U.S. officials have suggested was necessary for progress. Catch up quick: On Friday President Trump said on Truth Social that China had " totally violated" the tariff pause agreement the two countries reached in mid-May, raising fears the detente could be all but dead. Later that evening, he doubled steel tariffs. Between the lines: That pause deal with China contributed directly to a rebound in consumer confidence, CEO confidence and the stock market. What they're saying: "President Trump, we expect, is going to have a wonderful conversation about the trade negotiations this week with President Xi, that's our expectation," Hassett said on ABC's This Week. Hassett said nothing was firmly scheduled yet, but the expectation was the call would happen. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation, would not go quite as far as Hassett, but he said "I believe we will see something very soon." The intrigue: Bessent said the Chinese were withholding exports for some products that were part of the May trade deal. "Maybe it's a glitch in the Chinese system, maybe it's intentional, we'll see after the president speaks with the party chairman," he said. Axios' Marc Caputo reported Saturday that a State Department plan to cancel Chinese students' visas was a reaction to China withholding exports of rare earth minerals crucial to high-tech manufacturing.
3 days ago
- Business
Hassett says he's 'very confident' that courts will uphold Trump's tariffs
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Sunday that the administration is confident it will be able to continue its tariff agenda despite recent legal setbacks. 'And so we're very thrilled. We are very confident that the judges would uphold this law. And so I think that that's Plan A, and we're very, very confident that Plan A is all we're ever going to need,' Hassett told 'This Week with George Stephanopoulos.' An appeals court reinstated President Donald Trump's tariffs this week after a Wednesday court order blocked them. The appeals court decision stands for the time being. The original injunction of Trump's tariffs came after the court decided that the administration's evocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give the president the right to set 'unlimited' tariffs. The White House argued that the court order could harm its progress in negotiations.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Economic Adviser Makes Delusional Claim About Tariffs
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett insisted Thursday that Donald Trump 'always wins,' even after the president's vacillating tariff policies faced a massive defeat in federal court. During an interview on Fox Business's Mornings With Maria, host Maria Bartiromo asked Hassett for his reaction to a journalist teaching Trump about a new investing theory, TACO, which stands for 'Trump always chickens out.' The economic adviser replied to the dig with another slogan. 'I think if President Trump had just a minute more, if you go back into the room behind the Oval, he's got all his hats and things over there, and he has a hat which is the accurate response to what that person said, which is 'Trump always wins,'' Hassett said. 'If you go look, a lot of people are wearing that hat, 'Trump always wins' and 'Trump was always right.'' Hassett claimed that Trump's tariffs had forced other countries to 'come to the table with massive concessions, opening up their markets to our products, and lowering their tariffs on us.' So far, only Israel, India, and Vietnam have moved to slash tariffs on U.S. products. Negotiations with other trading partners, such as the European Union, are still ongoing. Hassett insisted that Trump's volatile tariff policies had been 'really, really effective for the American people, and it's unfortunate that people would attack it, as the journalist did or the way the judges just did, that these activist judges are trying to slow something down in the middle of really important negotiations.' A panel of three federal judges in the U.S. Court of International Trade unanimously ruled Wednesday evening that Trump had exceeded his legal authority by imposing sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries, based on vague claims of 'national emergencies.' The Trump administration has already said it will appeal the decision, and through his broad smile, Hassett desperately attempted to downplay the loss. 'And the idea that the fentanyl crisis in America is not an emergency is so appalling to me, that I'm sure that when we appeal that this decision will be overturned,' Hassett continued. Trump had used a domestic public health crisis as a rationale for imposing steep tariffs on China, claiming the country had failed to thwart fentanyl production and trafficking. But contrary to Hassett's claim, the panel had not found that the fentanyl was not an urgent issue but simply that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize the president to impose worldwide, retaliatory tariffs.
