Robert Koopman, Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer at American University and former Chief Economist at the World Trade Organization, spoke to CGTN Europe about the U.S. court's decision to block Trump tariffs and what might be expected next.
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00:00Robert Koopman is the Hearst Senior Professorial Lecturer at American University and former Chief Economist at the World Trade Organization.
00:08Thanks so much for joining us. On what grounds do you think the Trump administration will most likely use to fight this ruling?
00:16Well, you know, you've already heard that they're going to appeal the ruling, but I suspect what they're going to try to do is use other provisions in U.S. law to try to impose tariffs on our trade partners.
00:28So there are already 10 investigations going on. We have six Section 332 investigations that are on national security.
00:37We have three 302 investigations, which are about unfair export practices, and one Section 201, which is about U.S. sector being injured.
00:49So I think they're going to use many of those tools, those three in particular.
00:54The challenge for the administration is that each of those takes much longer, requires an investigation.
01:02It requires engaging with the private sector and the public and hearing from our trade partners about the specific elements that they propose as trade measures in there.
01:14That will slow the process down.
01:17It will allow those who would be adversely affected by the potential tariffs to actually weigh in publicly.
01:24And typically what happens is that the initial proposed policies and those things get changed.
01:31So I think those will be the main tools.
01:34The difference compared to IEPA is there's not as much flexibility.
01:39There's much more engagement.
01:40It takes much longer time.
01:42Time is of the essence, of course.
01:44Can the administration proceed with tariff deals pending this appeal, or must all of it be stopped in the meantime?
01:54No, they can continue negotiating, although the president will complain that his leverage has been temporarily removed.
02:02But I think all the trading partners realize that regardless of what the outcome is in the appeal process,
02:10that this president intends to raise tariffs on imports and encourage reshoring in the United States.
02:18There's another provision he can use.
02:20It's a temporary provision called Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
02:25That would allow him to put, for 150 days, a 15% tariff or quotas on imports.
02:32So that gives him much more unilateral action, but the time frame is limited compared to those other actions.
02:40Congress can extend those.
02:42Go ahead.
02:43Sorry, news just coming in that I want to ask you about.
02:45Trump apparently could ask the Supreme Court to halt this bloc as soon as Friday with his advisor, Peter Navarro, saying they've got lots of other tariff options available,
02:56even if the Court of International Trade ruling stands.
03:00What's your sense of hearing that information?
03:03So I think that's exactly where I expected them to go, and I just listed these other legislative tools that they can use to raise tariffs,
03:13including that last one, Section 122, which the president can do very quickly, but for a time-limited period, 150 days.
03:22Congress could then extend that.
03:24So that would give him immediate leverage once again.
03:27But I suspect they'll wait to see what the Supreme Court says.
03:30The Court of International Trade ruling is pretty clear.
03:33It's pretty stark.
03:35It'd be really surprising to me, but I'm an economist, not a lawyer, if the Supreme Court would actually overturn the CIT ruling.
03:43All right.
03:43Thank you so much for your insights.
03:45Robert Koopman is the Hearst Senior Professorial Lecturer at American University, also a former chief economist at the World Trade Organization.