President Donald Trump has abandoned his controversial plan to attend oral arguments for the Supreme Court case that will decide the fate of his signature economic policy.
The president originally claimed he was “obligated” to be there Wednesday when the justices weigh whether or not the president can unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on products from dozens of U.S. trading partners.
But after his own allies warned that the move could backfire, Trump has decided to skip the arguments, he announced in a rambling Truth Social post.
“I will not be going to the Court on Wednesday in that I do not want to distract from the importance of this Decision,” he wrote. “It will be, in my opinion, one of the most important and consequential Decisions ever made by the United States Supreme Court. If we win, we will be the Richest, Most Secure Country anywhere in the World, BY FAR. If we lose, our Country could be reduced to almost Third World status.”
Trump announced the first round of massive tariffs in April by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives president the power to regulate international commerce in response to an unusual or extraordinary threat against the U.S.
Two lower courts have found that the law did not give Trump the power to bypass Congress and unilaterally impose the tariffs.
But the duties—which are a type of import tax paid by American companies, with the costs typically passed on to consumers—have been allowed to remain in effect throughout the appeals process.
Last month, Trump told journalists that he might make the unprecedented decision to attend oral arguments in the case, Learning Resources, Inc. v Trump, according to Politico.
“It’s one of the most important decisions in the history of the Supreme Court, and I might go there. I really believe I have an obligation to go there,” he said.
Historians and lawyers who regularly appear before the court told Politico they did not know of any other occasions in which a sitting president attended a Supreme Court hearing.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told the outlet last week that attending would be a “mistake.”
“Some may interpret it as an attempt to put pressure on the justices, and I think if the justices receive it that way, I’m not saying they will or they won’t, but if they do perceive it that way, I think it will backfire,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut argued that attending the oral arguments would be an attempt to “bully the court” and agreed that it was likely to “backfire.”
Ever since a federal appeals court struck down a major part of the president’s tariff policy in August, Trump has talked about the case in apocalyptic terms, warning that without his tariffs, the nation could crumble.
“Next week’s Case on Tariffs is one of the most important in the History of the Country,” he wrote on Truth Social. “If a President was not able to quickly and nimbly use the power of Tariffs, we would be defenseless, leading perhaps even to the ruination of our Nation.”
A ruling against the administration would result in Trump losing his favorite cudgel for trying to force countries to bend to his political will—and for punishing countries that refuse, Reuters reported.
The president announced new duties on products from Brazil after its judiciary found Trump’s ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, guilty of an attempted coup.
He also hits products from India with a higher tariff rate as a punishment for buying Russian oil, and urged European allies to do the same.
