Trump encourages Iran protesters, issues tariffs

Joey Garrison, Zac Anderson

and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – A day after the Trump administration said attacking Iran with air strikes was on the table, President Donald Trump encouraged protesters to continue the fight.

'Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,' Trump posted on Truth Social Jan.13. 'I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!'

Trump is aiming to make Iran stop a deadly crackdown on people who express anger over the country’s economic woes as well as social and cultural restrictions. About 2,000 people, including security personnel, have been killed in protests, an Iranian official said Jan.13. The regime has imposed an internet blackout.

'A massacre is unfolding,' said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran.

Trump tightened the economic screws Jan.12, announcing a new 25% tariff on goods from any nation that does business with Iran.

Iran’s top trading partners for exports are Iraq, China and Turkey, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Trump has used tariffs for a variety of reasons in his second term. The Supreme Court could issue an opinion as soon as Jan.14 on the constitutionality of one of the president’s avenues for using tariffs: emergency powers.

The president has repeatedly pressured the court publicly to rule on his side, and he did so again Jan.12.

'If the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, WE’RE SCREWED!' he wrote on Truth Social.

As a legal basis for most of his levies, Trump declared a national emergency over the United States’ trade deficit under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. But following a legal challenge from a group of businesses, a federal appeals court ruled in August that most of Trump’s tariffs were unlawful. And a majority of Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism over Trump’s use of emergency powers during oral arguments Nov. 5.

A final ruling against Trump would deliver a massive blow to the centerpiece of his domestic agenda and his favorite tool in trade negotiations with other countries. The ruling could also have major implications on the global economy and Trump’s assertions of broad executive authority.

Trump claimed in his social media post that the United States would be on the hook to pay back 'many Hundreds of Billion of Dollars' in revenue so far collected from the new tariffs and 'Trillions' more in private investments.

The federal government collected about $200billion more in tariff revenue in 2025 as a result of the president’s tariffs on imports from across the world. Tariffs are paid by companies when they import goods from other countries.

Trump did not say how he arrived at the 'trillions' figure. He has often exaggerated the private investment spurred by his tariffs, and some companies that have pledged U.S. investments have yet to follow through.

Contributing: Reuters; Kim Hjelmgaard and Joey Garrison, USA TODAY