Trump calls reporter who questioned absence of tariffs in 1st term a 'lunatic'; Watch video

Time of India

a day ago

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US President Donald Trump publicly clashed with a reporter during a White House press conference on Thursday, calling him a 'lunatic' when questioned about the timing of his decision to invoke the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs in his second term.The exchange came hours after a federal appellate court held a 99-minute hearing examining whether Trump exceeded his legal authority under IEEPA by unilaterally introducing wide-ranging tariffs on imports.'As you know, a federal appellate court today heard oral arguments about whether or not you had the authority to unilaterally impose those tariffs,' the reporter asked. 'I'm not going to get you to weigh in on the legal arguments, but you're weighing your decision to do that, your authority to do that, based on a 1977 law… Why didn't you invoke this law in your first term?'Trump began to answer, 'Well, we've been winning all along,' but the reporter pressed again: 'You could've collected billions upon billions of dollars back then, but instead, you waited until your second term.'Visibly agitated, Trump fired back and said, 'In my first term, I was busy fighting lunatics like you who were trying to do things incorrectly and inappropriately to a duly elected president.'He went on to defend his tariff record from his first term, saying, 'We took in hundreds of billions from China. We took in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs.' Before concluding the exchange, he added, 'You people didn't cover it very well.'The courtroom scrutiny of Trump's legal approach comes after his April 2 'Liberation Day' tariffs, which slapped new duties on nearly all imports and invoked IEEPA for justification. The law, historically used for asset freezes and sanctions, had never been interpreted to support tariff powers.'IEEPA doesn't even mention the word 'tariffs' anywhere,' Circuit Judge Jimmie Reyna remarked, according to the Associated Press.Administration attorney Brett Schumate said, 'No president has ever read IEEPA this way,' but argued Trump acted because 'the US trade deficit posed a national emergency.'No ruling has been issued yet, but the case is expected to reach the US Supreme Court. A lower court earlier held that Trump had overstepped his authority — a decision now under appeal.Earlier in the day, Trump signed a new executive order imposing a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports, citing 'an economic emergency' due to that country's policies and the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro.The latest round of tariffs — covering 68 countries and the entire European Union — will take effect on August 7. Countries not specifically named will face a baseline 10% tariff. Meanwhile, India has been slapped a 25% tariff plus penalty for buying Russian crude.