'[It] would be 1929 all over again,' President Trump invokes fear ahead of tariff court ruling
- Alexangel Ventura
- Aug 8
- 2 min read
President Trump in the wake of a critical U.S. court ruling attempted to invoke fear if the ruling was to rule against his authority to implement tariffs as "1929 all over again."
Trump, in a harshly critical Truth Social post on Friday, commented angrily, "If a Radical Left Court ruled against us at this late date, in an attempt to bring down or disturb the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen, it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor, it would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!"
The courts have used this ongoing case against the Trump administration to determine whether or not the President's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 is legally permissible, or if Congress should hold the president accountable via having their own say in the invocation of the law.
President Trump has already derived much of his non-Senate-approved tariff policies from the Trade Act of 1974 Section 232, which allows the president to adjust imports if they threaten national security. This law was previously imposed on steel and aluminum in 2018. But the president now wants to invoke the former law to further expand his leverage over American tariff policy without requiring Congressional approval.
Starting on August 8th, today, the U.S. federal appellate court is in the process of ruling that Trump overstepped their authority under IEEPA by imposing tariff policies, especially broad ones like flat tariff rates, on imports without sufficient Congressional approval, therefore such tariffs do not fall under the "emergency economic powers" that IEEPA was intended to cover. Instead, it is a less consequential trade matter that must be resolved by Congress.
Some judges in the courts have already expressed their explicit support for the ruling. "IEEPA doesn't even say ‘tariffs.’ It doesn't even mention it," said one judge.
"What does ‘regulation of importation’ mean?" another judge questioned. And "If ‘regulate’ doesn’t cover tariffs, what does it cover?"
The courts previously ruled on May 28th, 2025, in V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. United States and other cases that Trump exceeded his authority under the IEEPA, but the very next day, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an administrative stay, effectively pausing the previous ruling and allowing for the continued use of tariffs during the ongoing appeal process.
Trump later commented on the political biases within the court, attempting to move conversation a different direction. "There is no way America could recover from such a judicial tragedy," Trump said, "but I know our Court System better than anyone, there is no one in history that has gone through the trials, tribulations and uncertainties such as I, and absolutely terrible, but also amazingly beautiful, things can happen."
