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Jeffrey Lord to Newsmax: Trump Will Likely Ask Congress to Impose Tariffs

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Sunday, 01 June 2025 10:35 AM EDT

President Donald Trump, who is facing opposition from the courts with his fight to impose international tariffs, will likely at some point ask Congress to pass a statute to give him the tariffs he wants, American Spectator columnist Jeffrey Lord told Newsmax on Sunday.

"He's a gradualist in the sense that he makes a move and he wants to see what the response is," Lord said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "If he doesn't get the response he likes, he keeps going with this. So I imagine as long as he is not happy with this, you are going to see him plowing ahead more and more and more to get where he wants to be."

Trump, he added, is "a very determined guy."

"He's written whole books about this kind of thing and about this perspective and how you deal with struggles and opposition in life," said Lord. "He is a long way from done."

An emergency stay on the Court of International Trade's ruling against Trump's tariffs is keeping them in place for now. Friday, the president announced a 50% hike in steel tariffs, which Lord said is a welcome move.

"You can see from this crowd that turned out for him in Pittsburgh," said Lord, who is from Pennsylvania. "They are very supportive of this because it means jobs. This is absolutely a big deal for Pennsylvania and the rest of the country."

Lord also talked about tech billionaire Elon Musk, who officially left his role with the administration's Department of Government Efficiency last week, although Trump said he'll remain involved as a close adviser.

"I think he has left a legacy here," said Lord, pointing out that when President Ronald Reagan first took office, he also had a "budget cutter," David Stockman, a former congressman who headed the Office of Management and Budget.

"He became, like Elon Musk, the most feared guy in Washington, and he kept at it and at it," said Lord. "That's what you have to do here. There's no question in my mind whether Elon Musk is actually holding office or whispering in the president's ear. He's got the floor to some degree, and he's got a lot of support for it."

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