Uh Oh! Trump’s Own Lawyers Turn Against his Tariff Plan!!
2/23/202624 mincomplete
0:00Donald Trump and his lawyers have already destroyed any possible argument they can make in
0:06court to try to defend Trump's new 15 % tariffs against the world.
0:11As I'm sure you know by now, after Donald Trump lost the case before the
0:15Supreme Court and they struck down his tariffs against the world under a 1977 statute
0:22called IEPA, Donald Trump then had a temper tantrum and then imposed 15 % tariffs
0:29against the entire world under the Trade Act of 1974, Section 122.
0:37Now, the big problem for Trump invoking Section 122 is that it doesn't apply at
0:44all to a circumstance involving so -called trade deficits, which Donald Trump is complaining about.
0:51And Donald Trump's lawyers argued before the Court of International Trade, the Federal Circuit Court,
0:59as well as the United States Supreme Court, that Section 122 of the Trade Act
1:04of 1974 doesn't apply. Specifically, the federal judges and the justices then on the Supreme
1:11Court asked Donald Trump's lawyers, does Section 122 apply instead of the statute that you've
1:18been using to impose tariffs against the world?
1:21IEPA, can you use Section 122?
1:24And Donald Trump's lawyer said, nope, Section 122 cannot be invoked at all.
1:30That would be unlawful. So what does Donald Trump do after the IEPA emergency tariffs
1:37against the world were struck down by the Supreme Court?
1:40He invokes Section 122. What I also want to discuss with you in this video
1:45is that Trump has also created all of the evidence against himself to strike down
1:52these new 15 % tariffs against the world.
1:55You know how Donald Trump has made up that the United States has received trillions
2:00and trillions of dollars already in 2025, he claimed, from these countries because they just
2:06want to give him all their money.
2:08Remember, he said he's collected $17 trillion, $18 trillion, $22 trillion.
2:13Well, by you making those statements, you are also demonstrating that there is not any
2:20balance of payment system controversy that would be needed to invoke Section 122 because you're
2:28saying all these countries are giving you their money and that America's never been stronger.
2:34So you have no basis to invoke Section 122 as well.
2:39Trump is going to lose yet again, all of the cases that are going to
2:44be brought against him starting today based on his unlawful invocation of Section 122.
2:50And one of the things I want to highlight as well, as it relates to
2:54the markets, by Donald Trump invoking Section 122, he's essentially saying the United States is
3:02in a Great Depression level crisis right this second.
3:07By invoking it, he's saying, he's admitting that the United States economy is worse than
3:15it's ever been before. Folks, Section 122, which was created in 1974 after something called
3:25this big kind of Nixon financial crisis situation and the Bretton Woods system, which I'll
3:32talk about in just a moment.
3:34But the statute was created in 1974 to deal with potential currency manipulation, to deal
3:40with a potential run on gold, which never ended up happening.
3:45Nixon ended up imposing tariffs for a short period of time.
3:48And then certain situations were resolved back in the early seventies.
3:52But this statute has never been invoked before ever through lots of crises that the
3:59United States have had, whether it was through the eighties, the dot -com bust, whether
4:04it was the great recession, this has never been invoked.
4:07And so by invoking it, you are also admitting that the United States basically is
4:13having a Great Depression level crisis, the scale of which has never been seen before.
4:19And that's not a good look for the United States.
4:21So let's just do what we do here on the Midas Touch Network and go
4:24point by point. Let's bring out the receipts.
4:27So Neil Katyal, you know, Neil, he's been on the show before.
4:31He was the lawyer who argued the case to the Supreme Court and the lower
4:35courts that ultimately struck down Donald Trump's tariffs against the world under the IEPA statute.
4:42And Katyal explains, it seems pretty hard for Donald Trump to rely on this 15
4:48% statute, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, when his Department of Justice
4:57in our case told the court the opposite.
5:00Now, this is a direct quote from Trump's lawyers, nor does Section 122 have any
5:07obvious application here where the concerns the president been시간ed before the fact that this is
5:11to be hard to stay in the right.
5:11Let's move on. So let's get started.
5:11And I'll see you later.
5:11identified in declaring an emergency arise from trade deficits, which are conceptually distinct from balance
5:20of payment deficits. And Katael explains, look, if Donald Trump wants sweeping tariffs, he should
5:27do the American thing and go to Congress.
5:29He controls both branches of Congress and the executive branch.
5:35So pass a law if you want tariffs against the world.
5:39Persuade Congress if you think this is such a good idea.
5:42As Peter Breslin explains, Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, which I'll explain to
5:49you in just a moment, on which Trump's 10 % tariff is based, does not
5:54apply in the current macro environment.
5:57A balance of payment deficit is not the same thing as a trade deficit.
6:03What Trump has been complaining of is a trade deficit with other countries.
6:09Section 122 of 1974 deals with balance of payment deficits.
6:15And I'll explain again what that means in a moment.
6:17You cannot have a balance of payment issue if you have a flexible exchange rate
6:24as the U .S. currently does, or if, as Donald Trump says, he's bringing in
6:28all this money and we've never been richer.
6:31As Steve Leisman explains, I'd like to submit that declaring a balance of payments crisis
6:38to enact tariffs under Section 122 is not the best look for the United States.
6:43We need to attract billions in capital daily.
6:47In a payment crisis, foreigners pull their money out, interest rates soar, and currencies collapse,
6:55none of which is happening.
6:57So Trump is saying that everyone's pulling their money out of our country.
7:01That's a balance of payment crisis that you need to invoke 1974.
7:06So by invoking it, he's saying money's being pulled out, but he's going on TV
7:12and saying money is being poured in.
7:14Do you get what I'm saying?
7:15He's saying we're receiving trillions, but for there to be this balance of payment crisis,
7:19it would mean that people are pulling their money out and you're having a currency
7:24collapse. And that's not what's happening.
7:26And Steve Leisman explains, it's like going to the bank, declaring you're broke and that
7:32you've lost your job, but that they should give you the loan anyway.
7:36And you can't have a balance of payment crisis when foreigners are supposedly investing trillions
7:43of dollars into your economy, as Donald Trump says.
7:47But consistency is never his strong suit.
7:51So if you take a look right here, this is Section 122 of the 1974
7:55Trade Act. And here's where it says you can invoke this section to do 15
8:00% tariffs against the world.
8:02It has to be blanket basically against the world.
8:05And it could only last 150 days, but you have to have these predicate situations
8:12in order to invoke it.
8:14Whenever fundamental international payment problems require special import measures to restrict imports.
8:23So what are the fundamental international payment problems?
8:27That doesn't exist. And by Trump's own words, there isn't one.
8:30We've never been richer. We're in the golden age.
8:32We've brought in trillions of dollars.
8:34That's what he says. So then it is to deal with large and serious United
8:38States balance of payments deficits to prevent imminent and significant depreciation of the dollar in
8:44foreign exchange markets, or three, to cooperate with other countries in correcting an international balance
8:51of payment payment. And then you can do a temporary import surcharge not to exceed
8:5815 % for a period of up to 150 days.
9:02So the United States has never since 1974 experienced a balance of payment crisis severe
9:11enough to invoke section 122 of the trade act of 1974.
9:17Now, if you're just curious, why was this enacted?
9:19Well, it was enacted in 1974, partly in response to president Richard Nixon's 1971 imposition
9:27for a short period of time of a 10 % supplemental import duty.
9:32It was called the Nixon shock during a genuine balance of payment and monetary crisis
9:37under the fixed exchange rate Breton system that existed post world war two.
9:44So Nixon used authority from something called the trading with the enemy act, not section
9:49one out one 22 and the duty aim to protect us reserves curb speculation against
9:55the dollar and pressure allies to revalue currencies leading to something called the Smithsonian agreement
10:02in 1971. Imposing the 10 % tariffs wasn't monetary policy.
10:08It was done very surgically for a short period of time.
10:13Um, and you know, it had to address this thing called a Nixon shock.
10:18Um, and so one of the issues that happened was the system that existed post
10:24world war two really grew with certain pressures that were developing and a U S
10:30balance of payment deficit widened with heavy military spending, foreign aid programs, private U S
10:36investment overseas, and as Europe and Japan recovered economically, their exports became more competitive, reducing
10:44U .S. trade surpluses and continuing to persist in current account deficits.
10:49This flooded the world with dollars, dollar glut, dollar overhang, while U .S.
10:56gold reserves remained relatively fixed.
11:00The dollar became overvalued relative to other currencies, hurting U .S.
11:05exports, worsening the trade balance.
11:07And what almost happened for a period of time is gold reserves fell sharply.
11:13There was this real risk of a run on gold where foreign holders demanding gold
11:18in mass and the U .S.
11:20couldn't honor it because it was pegged to this gold standard.
11:24And so ultimately an agreement was reached called the Smithsonian Agreement and actions relating to
11:31the Smithsonian Agreement marked the end or the beginning of the end to the Bretton
11:36Woods fixed exchange rate system rather, which is different than what we have right now.
11:42And again, it really related to this unsustainable imbalance in the fixed rate system.
11:48I know that was a complicated explanation, but that doesn't exist right now.
11:52Okay. And if it did exist, a run on gold, a run where we're conceding
11:58that we are in the biggest crisis imaginable right now.
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13:16But when you hear from Donald Trump or when he makes his post golden age,
13:21$21 trillion. I mean, here's what he said last year.
13:25By the time my first year ends, we're going to have $20 trillion in investments.
13:30I mean, here's what he said.
13:31I would say right now, more than $18 trillion.
13:34The biggest number ever is a tiny fraction of that for any country, China, the
13:40United States, the biggest number of, if you look at the past administration, Biden, he
13:44did less than a trillion in four years.
13:47We're over $18 trillion. By the time my first year ends, we're going to have
13:51over $20 trillion of investment coming into the United States.
13:55It's unheard of. We have AI factories.
13:58We're leading China by a lot.
13:59We have cars and, you know, car plants coming in by more than we've ever
14:05had built before. Now, here's also what Trump said when he was on Air Force
14:10One last year. Trillions of dollars have come into our country and everything is better.
14:15He says, everything is great.
14:16We're booming. So if you're saying those things, the predicate of Section 122 inherently can't
14:24be met. Y 'all understand that, right?
14:26Here, play this clip. So many successful meetings.
14:29And so many meetings great for our country with literally hundreds of billions, trillions of
14:34dollars have come into our country over the last four days, represented by this meeting.
14:40But trillions of dollars, where Toyota is going to build plants, $10 billion worth of
14:46plants. And, you know, I could go over so many different companies coming in.
14:50They're pouring money into the United States.
14:52So beyond even this meeting, this was an unbelievable trip.
14:56And I hope you're glad you were part of it.
14:58It was big. Now, I also want to mention that something Donald Trump also did,
15:04which is going to hit you in the pocketbook, is he removed the so -called
15:09de minimis tariff exemption for things $800 or less.
15:13That exemption no longer applies.
15:16So all of those things get tariffed.
15:17So Donald Trump is just lashing out right now.
15:21And as Mike in the box says, it's infuriating that every journalist since Trump's 2024
15:27campaign has been incorrectly discussing Trump's tariffs as though they're economic policy.
15:32They're not. They're a primitive coping mechanism for him, employed by a psychopathic toddler to
15:39soothe his pain when he feels fragile and wounded.
15:43There has never been a clearer example.
15:45Supreme Court humiliates Donald Trump strikes down the IEPA tariffs, the 1977 emergency tariff bases
15:53that he used. He feels wounded.
15:56So then he says 15 % against the world by invoking the Trade Act of
16:001974. Brian Riley also states, Trump cannot impose tariffs under Section 120.
16:07It only authorizes tariffs in the presence of a fundamental international payment problem.
16:13The U .S. does not face such a problem, so it cannot be legally used
16:17to impose new tariffs. So what's this actually all about?
16:23How is he invoking this other law that he can't actually invoke?
16:28Well, because the lessons that Trump learns is how to more perfectly or imperfectly, however
16:38you want to describe it, become more of a predator because that's who he is,
16:41become more of a fraud.
16:43So Trump's lesson from the Supreme Court striking down the IEPA tariffs against the world
16:48is, wow, I was able to keep this thing going for over a year, maybe
16:5312, 13, 14 months before the Supreme Court finally struck it down.
16:58And then my unlawful actions were stayed by the federal courts and the circuit courts.
17:04They were paused, so I was allowed to keep doing the unlawful thing until it
17:08took a year and a half to get to the Supreme Court.
17:10So I'm just going to illegally invoke another statute.
17:14I'll say that I find that I'm going to argue that the language of the
17:19Trade Act applies, even though it doesn't.
17:22People will sue me. Businesses will sue me.
17:24I'll fight it out. It'll go to the Supreme Court.
17:27I'll lose. But for that period of time, I will have imposed these tariffs against
17:32the world. Even when you look at Nixon's 1971 imposition of 10 % tariffs, it
17:39was done very surgically. It wasn't a monetary policy.
17:44It wasn't a trade policy.
17:47It wasn't an overall thing that you just keep in place for this long.
17:51And, you know, that's why, notwithstanding what the Trump regime officials have said, the European
17:57Union will be freezing any ratification of its trade deal with the United States.
18:01The India trade representatives are not going to be visiting the United States, and why
18:06would they want to enter a trade deal?
18:08All of these other so -called deals that Donald Trump have said are all falling
18:12apart. And then you have Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, in his very arrogant Scott Besant
18:17way, saying that he's not going to give refunds to people.
18:21He's not going to give tariff refunds to American companies that paid it.
18:25Instead, he's going to fight it in the courts, and they're going to litigate it
18:29and make it torturous and terrible for companies to try to collect the tariffs that
18:34they paid. Hey, here's what Treasury Secretary Scott Besant had to say when he was
18:39on CNN on Sunday. Let's play it.
18:41Question. Will you refund the roughly $134 billion in revenue taken by these emergency tariffs?
18:50Well, Dana, that's not the big question.
18:53Let's just level set here.
18:55What the Supreme Court did was a very narrow reading of the president's authority under
19:00the IEPA tariffs. We have other tariff authorities which have been functioning, Section 232 tariffs,
19:08Section 301 tariffs. And, Dana, when you say it's a big question, that's bad framing
19:13because the Supreme Court didn't even address that.
19:16The Supreme Court remanded it down to a lower court.
19:19And, you know, we will follow what they say, but that could be weeks or
19:24months when we hear them.
19:25So the Supreme Court did not address refunds.
19:28Sure. They didn't address refunds.
19:30That is clearly going to be up to you, which is why it is the—
19:33No, no, no, no, Dana.
19:34It is not up to me.
19:35Not you. Not you. It is not up to the administration.
19:38It is up to the lower court.
19:40Let's just be clear on that.
19:41Okay. Well, the Justice Department told a federal appeals court in this very case last
19:47year, if tariffs imposed on plaintiffs during these appeals are ultimately held unlawful, then the
19:53government will issue refunds to plaintiffs.
19:57Again, I'm not going to get out ahead of the court.
19:59We will follow the court's direction.
20:02But as I said, that could be weeks or months away.
20:04That decision was not rendered on Friday.
20:07And here's what he said when he was doing this event that was covered on
20:13C -SPAN, where he says, I've got a feeling we're not going to return any
20:16of the money to people.
20:17That means you're stealing. Dude, that means you're stealing.
20:20The money doesn't belong to you.
20:22You unlawfully taxed Americans. You're not allowed to do that.
20:26Here, play this clip. Well, it's going to be a food fight going after $175
20:30billion, isn't it? So I got I got a feeling the the American people won't
20:36see it. Yeah. OK. Now, finally, I had the opportunity to speak with Justin Wolfers,
20:42renowned economist from University of Michigan.
20:46Here's what he told me when I interviewed him very recently.
20:49Let's play it. And I think you're absolutely right, mate.
20:53And I think what's actually sort of worse than that is the president's immediate reaction
20:58was to issue. I think it's called Section 122, a 10 percent global across the
21:03board tariff. So that makes it sound to folks at home like, oh, the Supreme
21:07Court took it away, but he was able to do it another way.
21:09No. Section 122 says that you can issue a tariff of up to 15 percent,
21:14but it can only last for 150 days.
21:17So the president might be able to brag at night that he's reinstated his tariff
21:22regime, but he hasn't. What's more important is to understand these tariffs are a solution
21:29in search of a problem.
21:30Think about it this way.
21:32Why is it we have tariffs?
21:34Well. If it's to give the president leverage for these international deals, which has become
21:38his recent story, imagine calling up the prime minister of Canada and saying, well, you
21:44better do what we want or else we'll issue tariffs.
21:48Mark Carney can count to 150.
21:50Mark Carney is just going to say, I might just wait till the 150 days
21:54are over and then you'll get rid of them.
21:57So there's absolutely no leverage you get out of this.
22:00Okay, so then the president says, no, this is all about onshoring manufacturing.
22:07Okay, so the idea of onshoring manufacturing is you make it more profitable to do
22:10business in America. But this tariff that he just imposed in a fit of pique
22:16lasts for 150 days. So that means it'll be more profitable to do business in
22:21America for the next 150 days, but I won't have poured concrete on my factory
22:24till day 151. Therefore, no jobs are coming home as a result of this tariff.
22:30So then Trump's new 10 % across the board tariff, what is it?
22:35There's only one thing it is.
22:36It's a tax. It's a tax on Americans.
22:38What we now have is, you know, I don't know what to make of this.
22:41We have a pro -tax Republican president.
22:45Maybe he's in favor of this tax because it's aggressive, that it takes a bigger
22:48chunk out of the pay packets of the poor than it does of the rich.
22:51Maybe he thinks he can baffle us with bullshit and pretend that China's paying, but
22:55that's a story that people aren't buying.
22:57These are tremendously unpopular tariffs.
22:59And at a time where people are worried about affordability and he said that on
23:02day one he was going to bring down prices and instead what he did is
23:06redistributed from the poor to the rich, added tariffs, let Obamacare subsidies expire, undermine the
23:13Fed. He's done anything but address the affordability crisis.
23:17Well, there you have it, everybody.
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