President Donald Trump said Thursday that while his administration's tariffs are tough, they could have been "much steeper," insisting the United States has been "very nice" in its trade actions.
Trump made the remarks during the first Cabinet meeting of 2026.
Trump said those he described as "China-centric" were the ones "fighting us in this case," referring to the legal challenge to his tariffs now before the Supreme Court.
Nearly three months have passed since oral arguments in the closely watched case, and the court is not scheduled to convene publicly again for more than three weeks.
"It's a very important lawsuit for our country," Trump said. "We're waiting a long time but hopefully it's going to work out."
At issue is Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which grants the president broad authority to regulate international economic transactions during a declared national emergency.
"And the tariffs are very, you know, steep. They could be much steeper. We've been actually very nice about it. But even being nice about it, we've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars. And honestly they've given us tremendous national security; the power that we have because of that," Trump said.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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