Donald Trump is pursuing legal and logistical workarounds to use in case the Supreme Court rules against him, according to NBC's reporting.
After reporting that, "After losing in lower courts, President Donald Trump plans to take his case for the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs to the Supreme Court and the public square," the outlet notes, "His aides have also explored alternative methods for imposing import taxes on foreign goods, according to a senior White House official and two people familiar with the internal discussions."
The report continues to suggest that the administration has had "backup plans" in the works for some time.
"The backup plans have been part of internal discussions for many months because some White House officials anticipated the possibility that courts would intervene to stop Trump's tariffs, challenging the method he used to impose them — which was pushed by senior trade counselor Peter Navarro — according to two people familiar with the dynamics," NBC reported. "But even if the Supreme Court turns Trump down, he’ll be ready to move forward with other tariff options, these people said."
The report goes on to describe the part of the plan that remains unchanged.
"Regardless of the court outcome, the Trump administration will make the case to the public that Trump has a national security prerogative to continue levying tariffs, the senior White House official said," the report states. "Trump has used tariffs to attempt to compel other countries, including Russia, India and Pakistan, to end or avoid wars."
However, according to the report, the issues the administration is working through are keeping them from getting some important deals done.
"But the uncertainties around various aspects of Trump’s tariff policies — including the court fight and looming Section 232 investigations at the Commerce Department — are delaying the administration’s ability to cut deals with foreign countries, according to a person close to the White House who works on trade issues," according to the report.
“The whole thing is sort of interwoven together,” the individual stated. “It’s made it incredibly hard for the negotiators to land some of these agreements.”