Axelrod: Tariff Ruling May Have Saved Trump from Himself

CNN senior political commentator and former Obama adviser David Axelrod said Wednesday on “Anderson Cooper 360” that a federal court’s decision to strike down President Donald Trump’s tariffs may have saved him from himself.

Network legal analyst Elie Honig said, “This court unanimously 3 to 0 said that is not an economic emergency. That is not what the law means. Having trade deficits, which we’ve had for 49 years continuously, that is not an economic emergency and has now struck down for the time being, all of those tariffs that were put in place on Trump’s first day and then on quote unquote, Liberation day, April 2nd.”

Axelrod said, “You know, Trump loves tariffs. We know that he thinks it’s a cure all for all of America’s problems, it will, you know, raise revenues. It will bring jobs flowing back here, manufacturing jobs, you know, it will restore American respect and balance in all of this. But, you know, in a weird way, I mean, in the short run, I think it creates a lot of havoc because everyone’s trying to figure out when this in the long run, it could save him from himself because these tariffs are bad economic policy and these tariffs could raise costs on Americans.”

He added, “They’re already starting to. And so if if the result of it is he’s stymied in doing something that’s going to raise costs for people. It may be a black eye, but it may also be a break for him.”

Follow Pam Key on X @pamkeyNEN