Donald Trump Calls Tariffs His "Favorite Word" as Supreme Court Case Looms on Trade Policy

Trump's remarks occurred prior to the US Supreme Court's scheduled hearing on tariff-related cases.

Washington:

US President Donald Trump has vigorously defended his controversial trade policy, declaring that 'tariff' is his most beloved word in the English language and attributing America's economic prosperity to it. He contended that numerous nations had been exploiting the United States for decades, but his implementation of tariffs on trading partners has restored equilibrium in international trade.

"I love tariffs. Most beautiful word, but I'm not allowed to say that anymore. Tariff is my favourite word. I love the word tariff. We're becoming rich as hell. We have a big case in front of the Supreme Court, but I can't imagine it because this is what other nations have done to us," the US President proclaimed while addressing the Marine Corps Base in Quantico.

Trump asserted that under his tariff strategy, the United States was generating "trillions of dollars" – sufficient funds "to purchase numerous battleships."

"We've taken in trillions of dollars. We're rich again. When we finish this out, there'll never be any wealth like what we have. Other countries were taking advantage of us for years and years... Now we're treating them fairly. But the money coming in is something we've never seen. The other day, they had $31 billion that they found... $31 billion. That's enough to buy a lot of battleships," he stated.

Trump's comments came ahead of the US Supreme Court's scheduled November hearing of cases brought by businesses challenging his utilization of emergency powers to impose tariffs.

The November hearing follows the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision last month to uphold a lower court ruling that deemed the president's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose global levies illegal.

Even before the hearing commences, US trade representative Jamieson Greer has reportedly warned that the Trump administration will continue implementing tariffs on trading partners even if certain levies are declared illegal by the Supreme Court.

According to a Financial Times report, Greer maintained that the Trump administration expects to win the case but would resort to alternative legal measures to apply tariffs if unsuccessful.

"We are very confident in the case...We believe that the court will defer to the president on the emergency, the fact that tariffs can be used under this law," he explained.

However, the US official also insisted that tariffs would remain "a part of the policy landscape" and indicated that the so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed in August represented "how it's going to be."

"That's how we need to think about trade going forward, win or lose at the Supreme Court, wherever we end up. This is a structure," he concluded.