President Donald Trump speaks at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, on Wednesday. [AP]
President Donald Trump speaks at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia, on Wednesday. [AP]

President Donald Trump doubled down on the legitimacy of his tariff policy as his administration rolled out a new round of tariffs, arguing it has drawn massive foreign investment into the United States.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said he was confident the new tariff measures — imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act — would survive legal challenges. "These tariffs have been in place for a long time," he said. "They've been approved in thousands of cases over a long period of time."

Trump also addressed the Supreme Court's earlier ruling on tariffs, saying he disagreed with it but that his administration had simply taken a different legal path. "I thought the Supreme Court ruling was wrong, but we have tariffs in various forms and all we did was follow route 'B' instead of route 'A,'" he said. "'B' is a very common method that has been used countless times over many years, and we used it."

Trump said the tariff policy had helped his administration attract $19.2 trillion in foreign investment in just over a year, calling it "something that has never happened before in history."

"The Supreme Court said, 'Do it a different way — there are other ways to do it,' and we did," Trump said.

The Trump administration on Friday imposed "forced labor tariffs" of 10 to 12.5 percent on 60 economic entities under Section 301 of the Trade Act. The move is intended to replace the 10 percent "global tariff" imposed worldwide under Section 122 of the Trade Act immediately after the Supreme Court's ruling on reciprocal tariffs in February.

Trump also reiterated his intention to impose separate tariffs on Canada over air pollution in the eastern United States caused by Canadian wildfires.

In addition, Trump reaffirmed his longstanding position that Saudi Arabia must normalize relations with Israel — by joining the Abraham Accords — as a precondition for a nuclear energy agreement between the two countries.

"It's time for Saudi Arabia to join the accords," Trump said. "Saudi Arabia and other countries were reluctant to join because of issues with Iran, but those issues no longer exist."

He added that Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords was "very important for the future of the Middle East."

Trump went on to say that "at some point, Saudi Arabia will join, and they'll be able to do civilian nuclear."

Trump also commented on the Justice Department's decision to issue and then withdraw grand jury subpoenas targeting New York Times reporters who had covered security concerns related to the new Air Force One. "We're not going after journalists — we're going after leakers," he said. "The way to find them is through the journalists."

Earlier, after attending the NATO summit on July 8, Trump flew home from Turkey aboard the old Air Force One rather than the new aircraft received from Qatar. The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that the new plane lacked a fully operational missile defense system.

In response, the White House launched an extensive internal probe, requiring staff to surrender their cellphones in an effort to identify the source of the leak.


arete@heraldcorp.com