Trump says court halt of tariffs would cause ‘Great Depression’
IT WAS TARIFFS THAT CAUSED THE GREAT DEPRESSION
By AFP
August 8, 2025
Trump's hyperbolic statements come as a US appeals court weighs the legality of his broad use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs on trading partners - Copyright AFP Brendan SMIALOWSKI
US President Donald Trump warned Friday of cataclysmic consequences on the US economy if a court rules that his imposition of sweeping tariffs constitutes an illegal power grab.
If a “Radical Left Court” strikes down the tariffs, “it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“It would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!” he said.
Trump’s hyperbolic statements come as a US appeals court weighs the legality of his broad use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs on trading partners.
A lower court ruled against Trump in May, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit put the ruling on hold as it considers the case.
Trump on Friday touted billions of dollars in tariff revenue “pouring” into the Treasury — paid by US importers — and recent stock market records, as proof his levies had created “the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen.”
Many economists meanwhile worry the tariffs are stoking inflation and see trade policy uncertainty as slowing investment.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has announced a slew of new tariffs, seeking to force a reordering of global trade that he has long claimed is biased against the United States.
In addition to sweeping tariffs invoked under declarations of economic emergencies, he has also instituted sectoral tariffs of between 25 percent and 50 percent on steel and other items.
Those levies have generally followed government investigations and are not at issue in the pending litigation.
At a July 31 hearing, members of the appeals court appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments that it had broad discretion to declare national economic emergencies and invoke tariffs as a remedy.
To invoke his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on many US trade partners, Trump declared a national emergency over “large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits.”
Opponents to the White House policy have argued that such a reason does not qualify under the law Trump has cited for the tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
They also argue that levying blanket tariffs on imports requires the consent of Congress under the US Constitution.
The case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court, where conservatives enjoy a 6-3 majority, though analysts say the outcome is uncertain.
By AFP
August 8, 2025
Trump's hyperbolic statements come as a US appeals court weighs the legality of his broad use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs on trading partners - Copyright AFP Brendan SMIALOWSKI
US President Donald Trump warned Friday of cataclysmic consequences on the US economy if a court rules that his imposition of sweeping tariffs constitutes an illegal power grab.
If a “Radical Left Court” strikes down the tariffs, “it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“It would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION!” he said.
Trump’s hyperbolic statements come as a US appeals court weighs the legality of his broad use of emergency powers to enact sweeping tariffs on trading partners.
A lower court ruled against Trump in May, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit put the ruling on hold as it considers the case.
Trump on Friday touted billions of dollars in tariff revenue “pouring” into the Treasury — paid by US importers — and recent stock market records, as proof his levies had created “the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen.”
Many economists meanwhile worry the tariffs are stoking inflation and see trade policy uncertainty as slowing investment.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has announced a slew of new tariffs, seeking to force a reordering of global trade that he has long claimed is biased against the United States.
In addition to sweeping tariffs invoked under declarations of economic emergencies, he has also instituted sectoral tariffs of between 25 percent and 50 percent on steel and other items.
Those levies have generally followed government investigations and are not at issue in the pending litigation.
At a July 31 hearing, members of the appeals court appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments that it had broad discretion to declare national economic emergencies and invoke tariffs as a remedy.
To invoke his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on many US trade partners, Trump declared a national emergency over “large and persistent annual US goods trade deficits.”
Opponents to the White House policy have argued that such a reason does not qualify under the law Trump has cited for the tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
They also argue that levying blanket tariffs on imports requires the consent of Congress under the US Constitution.
The case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court, where conservatives enjoy a 6-3 majority, though analysts say the outcome is uncertain.
'Grim': Top economist says Americans in for a 'nasty shock' on inflation thanks to Trump
Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian
Citing President Donald Trump’s “really extreme policies on both trade and immigration,” and particularly his tariffs, Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman, one of the nation’s most prominent economic voices, is warning that the U.S. could soon face “stagflation”—a toxic mix of high inflation, rising unemployment, and stagnant demand.
“It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Stagflation,” Krugman wrote on Friday. Noting that “it’s all about Trumponomics,” he warned that “the data really are looking increasingly stagflationary.”
Calling one report “quite grim on both inflation and jobs,” Krugman, an economics professor, warns that “just around the corner,” Americans could be in for a “nasty shock” of “inflation of 4 percent or more,” which is about a 50 percent increase from where inflation is right now.
Krugman also notes that not only are tariffs inflationary, Trump’s “war on immigrants is also inflationary, because it is choking off production in industries that rely heavily on foreign-born workers.” He points to stories of no one available to pick crops, which then rot in fields, and “construction projects hobbled by ICE raids and a climate of fear.”
On Friday, President Trump appeared to issue a warning to the judiciary not to overturn his tariffs, a possibility given that one court has deemed them unlawful and an appeals court seemed skeptical that the basis for them, a “national emergency,” was valid. Trump said if they did it would lead to “1929 all over again,” a reference to the Great Depression.
Krugman agrees that the President’s tariffs may indeed be unlawful (as do many legal scholars) but he doubts they will be overturned.
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” he says of the courts overturning the tariffs. “And if the tariffs are here to stay, we can expect them to be passed on to buyers.”
Krugman is far from alone in his warning.
“America is showing new signs of stagflation,” reported Axios last week.
“Wall Street strategists are sounding alarms that the US economy is drifting toward stagflation as the impact of trade tariffs start to show up,” Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
“The economy looks like it’s moving closer to a dreaded stagflationary scenario,” reported Business Insider.
Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian
August 08, 2025
ALTERNET
Citing President Donald Trump’s “really extreme policies on both trade and immigration,” and particularly his tariffs, Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman, one of the nation’s most prominent economic voices, is warning that the U.S. could soon face “stagflation”—a toxic mix of high inflation, rising unemployment, and stagnant demand.
“It’s Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Stagflation,” Krugman wrote on Friday. Noting that “it’s all about Trumponomics,” he warned that “the data really are looking increasingly stagflationary.”
Calling one report “quite grim on both inflation and jobs,” Krugman, an economics professor, warns that “just around the corner,” Americans could be in for a “nasty shock” of “inflation of 4 percent or more,” which is about a 50 percent increase from where inflation is right now.
Krugman also notes that not only are tariffs inflationary, Trump’s “war on immigrants is also inflationary, because it is choking off production in industries that rely heavily on foreign-born workers.” He points to stories of no one available to pick crops, which then rot in fields, and “construction projects hobbled by ICE raids and a climate of fear.”
On Friday, President Trump appeared to issue a warning to the judiciary not to overturn his tariffs, a possibility given that one court has deemed them unlawful and an appeals court seemed skeptical that the basis for them, a “national emergency,” was valid. Trump said if they did it would lead to “1929 all over again,” a reference to the Great Depression.
Krugman agrees that the President’s tariffs may indeed be unlawful (as do many legal scholars) but he doubts they will be overturned.
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” he says of the courts overturning the tariffs. “And if the tariffs are here to stay, we can expect them to be passed on to buyers.”
Krugman is far from alone in his warning.
“America is showing new signs of stagflation,” reported Axios last week.
“Wall Street strategists are sounding alarms that the US economy is drifting toward stagflation as the impact of trade tariffs start to show up,” Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
“The economy looks like it’s moving closer to a dreaded stagflationary scenario,” reported Business Insider.
'Embarrassment': Trump mocked for 'making up numbers' alongside 'quack economist'
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a Purple Heart Day event to honor members of the military wounded or killed in action, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 7, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
President Donald Trump held an event at the White House today with an economist in which they both insisted that his firing of the United States' top economic statistician was justified. But several experts noticed that both Trump and his economist weren't giving Americans the full picture.
During the event, economist Stephen Moore — who is a co-author of the far-right Project 2025 playbook — stood aside a chart and claimed that under former President Joe Biden's administration, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) overestimated job growth by 1.5 million jobs. Trump insisted the overestimation was intentional, while Moore said regardless of the intent it showed "incompetence" on the part of the Biden administration's BLS.
However, as the New York Times pointed out, adjustments of jobs numbers are a routine part of what the BLS does, with the paper calling it "an inevitable if sometimes frustrating part of trying to measure a $30 trillion economy."
READ MORE: 'I'm down 90 prosecutors': Jeanine Pirro blasts Trump's mass firings — without naming him
But even when taking the adjustments into account, CNN reported that the Biden administration oversaw the creation of approximately 16.6 million jobs between February of 2021 (his first full month in the White House) and December of 2024. And while some of those jobs were the economy rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic and adding jobs that had been lost as the economy shut down, the U.S. economy surpassed pre-pandemic employment levels by June of 2022, and continued to add roughly 240,000 new jobs each month — well above the monthly average of 125,000 new jobs per month since 1939.
Both Trump and Moore were roundly mocked on social media over their presentation. Former Biden administration official Dan Koh tweeted: "This is their playbook. Cast doubt on BLS methodology, use that to replace it altogether, jobs numbers magically higher, Trump celebrates despite apples to oranges. Don't be fooled — more language like this will be in the new appointee's first words to the public."
Alex Jacquez, who was an economic advisor in the Biden White House, also piled on, writing: "Ah ok so they’re going straight to making up numbers. Doesn’t bode well!"
Journalist Jim Stewartson made fun of Moore by pointing out that he was an advisor to 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain (who proposed the notoriously regressive "9-9-9" tax plan). Journalist Aaron Rupar called Moore a "quack economist" in posting the video of his presentation. Progressive influencer JoJofromJerz reminded her followers that Moore has a $75,000 lien for unpaid federal taxes from 2018. CNBC reporter Megan Cassella wryly noted that one of Moore's charts used the term "medium income" (the proper term is "median income"). And Decatur, Alabama-based journalist Franklin Harris called Moore an "embarrassment" and a "craven sellout."
Watch the video of Trump and Moore's event below, or by clicking this link.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a Purple Heart Day event to honor members of the military wounded or killed in action, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 7, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
August 07, 2025
ALTERNET
President Donald Trump held an event at the White House today with an economist in which they both insisted that his firing of the United States' top economic statistician was justified. But several experts noticed that both Trump and his economist weren't giving Americans the full picture.
During the event, economist Stephen Moore — who is a co-author of the far-right Project 2025 playbook — stood aside a chart and claimed that under former President Joe Biden's administration, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) overestimated job growth by 1.5 million jobs. Trump insisted the overestimation was intentional, while Moore said regardless of the intent it showed "incompetence" on the part of the Biden administration's BLS.
However, as the New York Times pointed out, adjustments of jobs numbers are a routine part of what the BLS does, with the paper calling it "an inevitable if sometimes frustrating part of trying to measure a $30 trillion economy."
READ MORE: 'I'm down 90 prosecutors': Jeanine Pirro blasts Trump's mass firings — without naming him
But even when taking the adjustments into account, CNN reported that the Biden administration oversaw the creation of approximately 16.6 million jobs between February of 2021 (his first full month in the White House) and December of 2024. And while some of those jobs were the economy rebounding from the Covid-19 pandemic and adding jobs that had been lost as the economy shut down, the U.S. economy surpassed pre-pandemic employment levels by June of 2022, and continued to add roughly 240,000 new jobs each month — well above the monthly average of 125,000 new jobs per month since 1939.
Both Trump and Moore were roundly mocked on social media over their presentation. Former Biden administration official Dan Koh tweeted: "This is their playbook. Cast doubt on BLS methodology, use that to replace it altogether, jobs numbers magically higher, Trump celebrates despite apples to oranges. Don't be fooled — more language like this will be in the new appointee's first words to the public."
Alex Jacquez, who was an economic advisor in the Biden White House, also piled on, writing: "Ah ok so they’re going straight to making up numbers. Doesn’t bode well!"
Journalist Jim Stewartson made fun of Moore by pointing out that he was an advisor to 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain (who proposed the notoriously regressive "9-9-9" tax plan). Journalist Aaron Rupar called Moore a "quack economist" in posting the video of his presentation. Progressive influencer JoJofromJerz reminded her followers that Moore has a $75,000 lien for unpaid federal taxes from 2018. CNBC reporter Megan Cassella wryly noted that one of Moore's charts used the term "medium income" (the proper term is "median income"). And Decatur, Alabama-based journalist Franklin Harris called Moore an "embarrassment" and a "craven sellout."
Watch the video of Trump and Moore's event below, or by clicking this link.
'Living in a Fantasy World': Critics Pounce as Trump's CNBC Interview Goes Off the Rails
"The racism here is on steroids," said one critic about Trump's statements on immigrant farmworkers.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walks across the South Lawn upon return to the White House in Washington, D.C. on August 3, 2025 after spending the weekend at his Bedminster residence.
(Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)
"The racism here is on steroids," said one critic about Trump's statements on immigrant farmworkers.
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he walks across the South Lawn upon return to the White House in Washington, D.C. on August 3, 2025 after spending the weekend at his Bedminster residence.
(Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Aug 05, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump gave a lengthy interview to CNBC on Tuesday and critics quickly pounced on the president for telling a large number of false claims on topics ranging from monthly jobs numbers to the price of gas to international trade agreements.
Toward the start of the interview, CNBC host Joe Kernen pushed back on Trump's claims that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had "rigged" job creation numbers against him and debunked a Trump statement that the BLS had covered up negative jobs data revisions under the Biden administration until after the November 2024 presidential election.
Trump, however, insisted that his statements about hiding downward revisions until after the election were correct even though the biggest downward revisions actually occurred in August 2024, well before the election took place.
Commenting on Trump's assertion, Media Matters for America senior fellow Matt Gertz described it as "completely backwards."
"The BLS announcement on November 1 [2024] showed weak growth of 12,000 jobs in October and downward revisions to August/September of 112,000," Gertz explained on X. "Then after the election, the October figure was revised upward. Impossible to tell if Trump is lying, dumb, or sundowning."
Nick Tiriamos, the chief economics correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, similarly said that Trump was "getting his dates wrong" when he asserted a cover-up of negative jobs numbers given that "the big downward revision" was reported before the election took place.
Trump also made also false claims about the price of gas in the United States falling to just $2.20 per gallon, which prompted Kernen to note that the lowest prices he's seen for gas in the U.S. were $2.80 per gallon.
Aug 05, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump gave a lengthy interview to CNBC on Tuesday and critics quickly pounced on the president for telling a large number of false claims on topics ranging from monthly jobs numbers to the price of gas to international trade agreements.
Toward the start of the interview, CNBC host Joe Kernen pushed back on Trump's claims that the Bureau of Labor Statistics had "rigged" job creation numbers against him and debunked a Trump statement that the BLS had covered up negative jobs data revisions under the Biden administration until after the November 2024 presidential election.
Trump, however, insisted that his statements about hiding downward revisions until after the election were correct even though the biggest downward revisions actually occurred in August 2024, well before the election took place.
Commenting on Trump's assertion, Media Matters for America senior fellow Matt Gertz described it as "completely backwards."
"The BLS announcement on November 1 [2024] showed weak growth of 12,000 jobs in October and downward revisions to August/September of 112,000," Gertz explained on X. "Then after the election, the October figure was revised upward. Impossible to tell if Trump is lying, dumb, or sundowning."
Nick Tiriamos, the chief economics correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, similarly said that Trump was "getting his dates wrong" when he asserted a cover-up of negative jobs numbers given that "the big downward revision" was reported before the election took place.
Trump also made also false claims about the price of gas in the United States falling to just $2.20 per gallon, which prompted Kernen to note that the lowest prices he's seen for gas in the U.S. were $2.80 per gallon.
National security attorney Bradley Moss slammed Trump for his claim about gas prices and added that the latest data show that inflation has been accelerating in recent months as the president's tariffs begin to force companies to raise prices.
"The rest of the country is suffering from higher prices on everything, and this senile old man is living in a fantasy world in which it's simply not happening," he wrote on Bluesky.
Trump proceeded to make false claims about the trade deal he had recently struck with the European Union when he said that the agreement gave him "$600 billion to invest in anything I want." This drew the ire of Steve Peers, a professor of E.U. and human rights law at Royal Holloway University of London.
"Well no, it's a vague, nonbinding, unwritten nonstatement about companies' future investment plans, not cash for him to personally control," Peers commented on Bluesky. "But enjoy your weird demented fantasy, I guess."
Another eye-popping Trump statement came when he tried to defend the use of immigrant labor in the American agricultural industry by claiming that the immigrants had unique physical attributes that were absent from American workers.
"People that live in the inner city are not doing that work," Trump said of the prospects of American citizens picking crops. "They've tried, we've tried, everybody tried. They don't do it. These people [immigrants] do it naturally. Naturally... they don't get a bad back, because if they get a bad back, they die."
This statement drew the attention of Branden McEuen, a historian at Wayne State University who specializes in teaching about the history of the eugenics movement. Specifically, McEuen linked Trump's statement to past racist beliefs about people of color being genetically predisposed to engage in manual labor.
"Trump saying people of color are naturally suited to farm labor sure sounds a lot like the slaveholders that said slaves were naturally inclined to servitude," he remarked.
SiriusXM radio host Michelangelo Signorile picked up a similar vibe from Trump's statement about farmworkers.
"The racism here is on steroids, as Trump tried to make [the] case to MAGA that farmers need exemptions," he wrote. "[Trump] says brown people do hard labor 'naturally' and don't get [a] bad back, while also saying they've tried to replace them with people 'in the inner city' but they can't get them to do the work."
"The rest of the country is suffering from higher prices on everything, and this senile old man is living in a fantasy world in which it's simply not happening," he wrote on Bluesky.
Trump proceeded to make false claims about the trade deal he had recently struck with the European Union when he said that the agreement gave him "$600 billion to invest in anything I want." This drew the ire of Steve Peers, a professor of E.U. and human rights law at Royal Holloway University of London.
"Well no, it's a vague, nonbinding, unwritten nonstatement about companies' future investment plans, not cash for him to personally control," Peers commented on Bluesky. "But enjoy your weird demented fantasy, I guess."
Another eye-popping Trump statement came when he tried to defend the use of immigrant labor in the American agricultural industry by claiming that the immigrants had unique physical attributes that were absent from American workers.
"People that live in the inner city are not doing that work," Trump said of the prospects of American citizens picking crops. "They've tried, we've tried, everybody tried. They don't do it. These people [immigrants] do it naturally. Naturally... they don't get a bad back, because if they get a bad back, they die."
"Trump saying people of color are naturally suited to farm labor sure sounds a lot like the slaveholders that said slaves were naturally inclined to servitude," he remarked.
SiriusXM radio host Michelangelo Signorile picked up a similar vibe from Trump's statement about farmworkers.
"The racism here is on steroids, as Trump tried to make [the] case to MAGA that farmers need exemptions," he wrote. "[Trump] says brown people do hard labor 'naturally' and don't get [a] bad back, while also saying they've tried to replace them with people 'in the inner city' but they can't get them to do the work."
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