Lutnick: 'Rest assured, tariffs are not going away'

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday was adamant that the Trump administration's aggressive use of tariffs was not going away in the aftermath of court rulings that blocked sweeping duties on imports.

Lutnick appeared on "Fox News Sunday" days after the U.S. Court of International Trade and a separate ruling by a federal judge in Washington blocked tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.

"What’s going to happen is we’re going to take that up to higher courts. The president’s going to win like he always does," Lutnick said.

"Rest assured, tariffs are not going away," he continued. "He has so many other authorities that even in the weird and unusual circumstance where this was taken away, we just bring on another or another or another. Congress has given this authority to the president, and he's going to use it."

A federal appeals court last week lifted a ruling against Trump from the Court of International Trade, though a second federal ruling blocking the tariffs remained in place. The administration has attacked the judges in the wake of the rulings and argued Trump is on firm legal footing.

Those rulings apply to the broad "reciprocal" tariffs Trump imposed in early April, which included a baseline 10 percent duty on imports and higher rates on dozens of countries. Those higher rates have since been lowered to 10 percent until early July to allow for negotiations.

They also apply to tariffs Trump imposed on China, Mexico and Canada as part of his effort to crack down on fentanyl being brought into the country.

The rulings do not apply to sector-based tariffs Trump has imposed under a different authority.

The president has levied tariffs on automobile imports and steel and aluminum imports. Trump on Friday announced he was doubling steel and aluminum tariffs from 25 percent to 50 percent.