A lawyer expressed dismay at President Donald Trump’s latest move to resuscitate his tariff regime.
Last week, the Trump administration unilaterally applied tariffs to 60 global trading partners, citing the president’s authority to prevent products made from slave labor or in countries conducting human rights abuses. Shant Karnikian, a lawyer and co-host of the podcast “Civil Action,” argued on a new episode that while Trump appeared to be acting within the scope of his authority, the move revealed that he is using a legitimate mechanism to further his own agenda.
“That’s the shameful component of this, much like there is in every Trump thing, that he’s taking advantage of a well-meaning concept to justify something that he’s been told he can’t do,” Karnikian said.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s global tariff regime, holding that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not give him the unilateral authority to impose tariffs.
Trump recently raged at the decision on Truth Social, saying it has cost the country “trillions” of dollars.
Karnikian added that Trump’s latest move showed that he wasn’t giving up on his dream of imposing the tariffs, even if it hurts American consumers.
“So, he’s using something like stopping child labor or human rights violations to just do what he wants to do, so he can say, ‘Look at all the money I’m collecting from these other countries,’ and all while doing something that’s hurting the American consumer and American business,” Karnikian said. “So, [it’s] kind of sad.”