Donald Trump pushes forward on tariffs despite court challenges: What to know

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WASHINGTON —President Donald Trump's trade agenda is about to enter a new phase, as the Republican moves forward − for now − with tariff hikes.

In the face of mockery for repeatedly backing down from previous big tariff announcements, Trump is increasing tariffs on aluminum and steel imports to 50%. And his administration told nations in a letter this week that they have until June 4 to provide an update on the status of individual negotiations.

The tariffs are expected to be a major topic of discussion during Trump's meeting on June 5 with Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and in an as-of-yet unscheduled phone call that the White House says the United States president will be holding this week with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

At the same time, court challenges threaten to keep his administration from enforcing county-specific tariffs.

The legal challenges to Trump's tariffs in court have only been a minor setback, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a June 1 appearance on "Fox News Sunday."

"Rest assured, tariffs are not going away," Lutnick said, adding that even if higher courts upheld rulings that the law Trump cited to impose tariffs didn't grant him that power, the administration would find another legal power to use.

Countries quickly came back to the table to negotiate deals after an appeals court allowed Trump's tariffs to remain in place while the administration makes its case.

Trump increases tariffs on aluminum and steel

Trump has already started to pull some of those levers, announcing plans last Friday to double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Trump said a previously imposed tariff of 25% would increase to 50% on June 4. He signed an order formalizing the hike on June 3.

The tariffs were expected to affect Canada, which is the largest supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States, and Mexico among other nations. The European Union promptly warned that it could expand a list of countermeasures it is preparing to go into effect in mid-July if a trade agreement with the United States is not reached.

Canadian ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman told Paste BN in an interview that the increase was "unideal" but Canada's steel and aluminum exports have other markets that producers have already started to pivot to where they remain in demand.

The higher tariffs will be "very negative for the U.S. economy" and for trade between the two countries, Hillman said. She predicted that the hike would lead to "a wall" being erected between the countries for the two metals, prompting shortages and increased costs for Americans.

"Those are really costs that are going to be borne by Americans through price increases in everything from cars to home goods, anything that's manufactured with those two metals, which is an awful lot of what we use in our everyday lives," Hillman said.

White House downplays trade letter to countries

In a separate escalation against America's trading partners, the office of the United States Trade Representative pressed countries to respond by June 4 with their best offers to avoid higher country-specific tariffs.

Trump had previously told countries they had until July 8 to cut deals with the United States as part of a 90-day pause on so-called "reciprocal" tariffs he imposed and then halted earlier this year.

A universal tariff of 10% that Trump put on most nations at the same time remains in place, as do the tariffs he put on Mexico, Canada and China that were tied to his efforts to combat illegal immigration to the United States and the flow of fentanyl.

After a draft of the letter leaked to Reuters, two senior administration officials told Paste BN that it was not a final notice.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also sought to downplay the significance of the correspondence at a June 3 press briefing, where she told reporters, "This letter was simply to remind these countries that the deadline is approaching, and the president expects good deals, and we are on track for that."

Canada, China, EU in the crosshairs

It was not immediately clear which nations received the letter. Hillman told Paste BN that Canada, whose minister for trade with the United States Dominic LeBlanc is currently in Washington for talks, was not among them.

The meeting is a continuation of the conversation that took place between Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the ambassador said, and was not expected to immediately produce a major announcement.

Trump currently has a higher tariff of 25% on products not covered by a trade deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico, and a 10% tariff on potash (a kind of fertilizer) and Canadian energy products that are not exempted under the agreement.

The administration has said it is talking about deals with more than a dozen countries but none have emerged so far outside of a framework agreement with the UK.

The president last month threatened, and then backed off, a threat to impose a 50% tariff on the European Union, as trade talks with the bloc continue. The EU declined on June 2 to comment on the reported USTR letter.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is currently in Paris negotiating with trading partners, the White House said on June 3. Trump will also speak to Merz of Germany on June 5 when the leader visits White House for the first time since his May election.

Leavitt told reporters that Trump has been "very direct" in his talks with foreign leaders and had told them "they need to cut deals" with his administration. "He's unafraid to use tariffs to protect our industries and protect our workers, but he wants to see these tailor-made deals be signed," Leavitt added.

Trump is also expecting to speak with Xi of China this week, the White House has said. The president last week accused China of violating an agreement between the two nations to deescalate their trade war. China fired back that it was the United States undermining the deal that saw the U.S. reduce a 145% tariff to 30% while negotiations take place.

Leavitt affirmed to reporters on June 3 that call between the leaders was likely to take place this week but declined to provide additional details during her briefing.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington declined to comment on the possibility of a call, the status of negotiations and whether Beijing had received the letter from the United States' trade representative.

Trump tariffs hit legal snags

The tariffs have faced numerous legal challenges since Trump began rolling them out shortly after taking office.

Most recently, the U.S. Court of International Trade paused tariffs that Trump imposed without congressional approval only to have the ruling temporarily blocked by a federal appeals court.

A U.S. district court also blocked Trump tariffs from hitting two toy manufacturers at the end of May. The Trump administration appealed that decision on June 2.

In another case, a judge on June 2 dismissed a challenge from the state California, saying the filing belongs in the international trade court that is based in New York. The decision will allow California to bring its case to another appeals court.

In a series of TV appearances on June 1, administration officials said they were confident courts would ultimately side with Trump.

But if a judge rules against the administration, there are "other alternatives that we can pursue as well," the president's National Economic Council director, Kevin Hassett, said in an interview on ABC News' "This Week."

He offered provisions of U.S. trade law that give the executive branch the power impose tariffs on imports Trump deems a national security threat or in response to unreasonable or discriminatory trade imbalances as potential options.

"This is something we've been studying from 2017 on," he said. "We picked the best way. It's going to be upheld in court."