Trump Absent from Supreme Court Hearing on Tariffs
President Donald Trump said he would not attend this week's Supreme Court hearing on the legality of his global tariff policy. On his way back to Washington, Trump reiterated his decision to stay out of the spotlight. "This isn't about me, this is about the country," he said.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hold a hearing on Wednesday to hear Trump's appeal of a previous court ruling that found many of the "Liberation Day" tariffs exceeded the president's emergency powers to regulate imports. Trump called the final ruling "one of the most important decisions in the history of this country."
Trump again defended tariffs as a national security tool. He said that without tariffs, the US would be at a disadvantage because other countries have long used them against the US. "If we don't have tariffs, we don't have national security," Trump said, adding that the world would laugh at the US if it removed them.
Trump had previously said he felt "obliged" to watch the Supreme Court proceedings in person. Had he attended, he would have been the first sitting president to listen to oral arguments before the highest court. However, he has now chosen to skip the hearing to focus on the case, not his presence.
Source: Bloomberg.com
