VP Vance Declares National Emergency Over Drug Ingredients, Defends President Trump’s Tariff Authority
Vice President J.D. Vance is sounding the alarm over what he describes as a “national emergency” in America’s pharmaceutical and manufacturing supply chains — an urgent threat that he says fully justifies President Donald Trump’s bold use of tariffs to protect the nation’s economic and public health security.
Speaking to Newsmax host Greg Kelly on Thursday, Vance forcefully defended President Trump’s trade actions following a short-lived federal court decision that attempted to undermine the administration’s use of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Although a federal trade court briefly blocked the tariffs, a federal appeals court quickly reversed that order, affirming President Trump’s executive authority.
“You have seen foreign governments, sometimes our adversaries, threaten the American people with the loss of critical supplies. I’m not talking about toys, plastic toys,” Vance warned. “I’m talking about pharmaceutical ingredients. I’m talking about the critical pieces of the manufacturing supply chain. If these governments are threatening to cut us off from that stuff, that is, by definition, a national emergency.”
Vance emphasized that the president possesses sweeping authority to respond to such emergencies, especially when it comes to safeguarding American consumers and industries from hostile or manipulative foreign actors.
“The president has very broad discretions to engage in foreign policy to actually protect American consumers from foreign predators, from people who are trying to access our markets, dump into our markets, destroy American industries,” he said. “The president has a lot of power to prevent that stuff from happening.”
Despite the recent court ruling, Vance dismissed the legal challenge as little more than a “technicality,” arguing that the president retains multiple tools to shield American workers and industries from unfair trade practices.
“Even if you, somehow, had this legal technicality hold up in court, I think there are a lot of ways in which the president of the United States can protect American workers from these very, very unfair trade practices,” Vance said. “We believe, and we’re right, that we are in an emergency.”
He reiterated his warning about America’s reliance on foreign supply chains, especially those controlled by adversarial governments. “I’m not talking about toys, plastic toys. I’m talking about pharmaceutical ingredients. I’m talking about the critical pieces of the manufacturing supply chain,” he repeated, underscoring the stakes.
“And in that national emergency, the president has very broad discretion to fight back, to bring American industry back home, and to make American consumers protected and much safer. That’s all he’s trying to do. So, whatever this court has said, I think the president has the authority to do his job.”
Earlier this week, the U.S. Court of International Trade claimed that President Trump had overstepped his legal bounds under IEEPA when imposing broad tariffs — a decision the administration immediately appealed. Within 24 hours, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit halted the lower court’s ruling and restored Trump’s emergency trade powers.
The appeals court ordered both sides to submit legal briefs in the coming weeks, setting the stage for a high-stakes battle over the president’s power to enforce economic sovereignty through tariffs.
In a Thursday evening post on Truth Social, President Trump didn’t hold back, slamming the trade court’s ruling as a dangerous overreach that undermines the executive branch.
He argued that the decision would effectively force any president to seek Congressional approval for reciprocal tariffs — a move he warned would paralyze the government’s ability to act decisively in times of crisis.
President Trump also urged the Supreme Court to step in and uphold the constitutional balance of powers by reversing the trade court’s ruling, vowing to continue the fight to protect American industry and restore the nation’s manufacturing dominance.