[Anchor]
The U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearings this week to determine the legality of the Trump administration’s mutual tariffs.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary has claimed that China’s rare earth export controls amount to an “emergency,” arguing for the justification of the tariffs.
Reporter Yang Min-hyo has more.
[Report]
In April, U.S. President Trump proclaimed mutual tariffs, stating that the massive U.S. trade deficit was a national emergency, and imposed mutual tariffs on countries around the world citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Ahead of this week’s Supreme Court hearing on the legality of the ‘Trump Tariffs,’ the Trump administration has argued its justification.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Vincent has appeared repeatedly on U.S. media outlets like CNN, claiming that China’s control of rare earth exports was an “emergency,” justifying the tariff imposition.
[Scott Vincent/U.S. Treasury Secretary: “(When President Trump threatened a 100% tariff on Chinese goods in accordance with the law, China postponed its rare earth control measures. If this isn’t an emergency, what is?)”]
He also argued that President Trump’s imposition of a 20% tariff on Chinese fentanyl brought China to the negotiating table.
He described China as an “unreliable partner.”
[Scott Vincent/U.S. Treasury Secretary: “We don’t want to decouple supply chains with China, but we need to mitigate risks. They have shown themselves to be unreliable partners in many ways.”]
Last week’s summit saw a temporary easing of trade tensions between the U.S. and China following the cancellation of U.S. tariffs on fentanyl and China’s postponement of rare earth export controls, but uncertainty remains.
Previously, both the first and second courts ruled that the tariff imposition was illegal, but President Trump expressed confidence by announcing he would attend the Supreme Court hearing on the 5th.
[Donald Trump/U.S. President/Last month on the 21st: “The U.S. negotiated well. Such an agreement wouldn’t have been possible without tariffs. Tariffs are akin to national security.”]
According to polls by ABC News and others, support for the Trump administration’s tariff policy is at 33%, noticeably lower than the overall approval rating of 41%.
This is Yang Min-hyo from KBS News.
Video Edit: Kim Shin-hyung/Research: Joo Eun-seo
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