Trump officials say tariff pressure crucial to prevent slow-walking of trade talks, retaliatory duties
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent interviews with Fox News during a visit to Martin's Tavern, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, during an area restaurant tour about no taxes on tips and overtime. AP-Yonhap
WASHINGTON — Top officials of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration have defended "reciprocal" tariffs as a crucial tool to prevent trading partners from 'slow-walking" negotiations and imposing retaliatory duties, as a court ruled last week that most of its global tariffs are illegal.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Secretary of State Marco Rubio submitted their statements to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Friday to make the case for the steep duties.
In a seven-to-four decision, the court issued the ruling, but allowed the levies to remain in force until Oct. 14 to give time for the Trump administration to appeal its decision. In a social media post, Trump denounced it, claiming that the ruling would "literally destroy" the United States if allowed to stand.
"The pressure of tariffs is crucial in bringing other countries to the table and in the president's ability to respond to other countries' efforts to slow-walk negotiations or to change their bargaining positions by further distorting the conditions of competition for U.S. exporters, including by imposing retaliatory tariffs," Bessent said in the statement.
"The success of the negotiations depends on the credible threat of prompt imposition of tariffs," he added.
Noting framework trade agreements with South Korea, the European Union, Vietnam and others, Greer pointed out that the U.S. and these trading partners are working "quickly" and "diligently" to turn the agreements into "legally binding instruments."
"None of these agreements would be possible without the imposition of tariffs to regulate imports and bring other countries to the table," Greer said.
Lutnick warned that a ruling suspending the effectiveness of tariffs would cause a "massive" and "irreparable" harm to the U.S., its foreign policy and national security both now and in the future.
"Such a ruling would threaten broader U.S. strategic interests at home and abroad, likely leading to retaliation and the unwinding of agreed-upon deals by foreign trading partners, and derail critical ongoing negotiations with foreign trading partners," the secretary said.
Rubio expressed concerns that the potential suspension of tariffs would have a negative impact on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Trump imposed steep tariffs on India as a punishment for importing Russian oil as he seeks to broker an end to the war in Ukraine.
"These tariffs will reduce demand for Russian Federation oil by India and other countries and increase the president's leverage to secure peace and resolve the national emergency with respect to the Russian Federation's actions in Ukraine," he said.
Under a trade deal with South Korea late July, the Trump administration agreed to reduce reciprocal tariffs on South Korea to 15 percent from the proposed 25 percent in return for Seoul's commitment to investing $350 billion in the U.S. and other pledges.
Trump announced "reciprocal" tariffs on April 2, a day he dubbed "Liberation Day," as he has been using tariffs to increase federal revenue, draw in foreign investments, reduce America's trade deficits and boost domestic manufacturing.