WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is ratcheting up pressure on the Supreme Court not to overturn his tariffs, arguing that an adverse decision would create a financial and national security crisis so big the U.S. may not ever be able to recover.

Trump claimed in a post on social media that the potential harm of halting the tariffs and issuing refunds was far greater than what the government's lawyers argued in court, because they did not take into account the total amount of money that U.S. is projected to bring in over the next decade.

Trump's tariffs had generated roughly $100 billion in tax revenue by the end of October.

However, the Congressional Budget Office projected the tariffs would generate $3.3 trillion in revenue over a decade and allow paying off debt faster to reduce interest payments by $700 billion over a decade, for a total of a $4 trillion value to the government.

The Justice Department, in fact, told the Supreme Court in a written filing that the tariffs will reduce the national deficit by $4 trillion.

And Neal Katyal, the lawyer representing the small businesses challenging the tariffs highlighted that amount during the court’s Nov. 5 oral arguments to emphasize the scope of revenue-raising power the president is claiming.

Still, Trump said the court "was given the wrong numbers."

"The 'unwind' in the event of a negative decision on Tariffs, would be, including investments made, to be made, and return of funds, in excess of 3 Trillion Dollars. It would not be possible to ever make up for that kind of a 'drubbing,'" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "That would truly become an insurmountable National Security Event, and devastating to the future of our Country - Possibly non-sustainable!"

The pressure campaign on the high court came after justices who have often ruled in Trump's favor voiced skepticism in nearly three hours of arguments on Nov. 5 over his ability to bypass Congress and unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs. Only Congress has the power to impose taxes, and justices indicated they had concerns about legislators' ability to curb the president’s power to impose tariffs in the future.

Reimbursing the tariffs that have already been paid came up during the hearing, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett asking about the level of difficulty the government would face if it had to issue refunds. Katyal, the lawyer representing businesses opposed to the tariffs, argued that the potential strain was not a reason for the court to side with the administration. He said the court could opt to strike down the tariffs moving forward.

"We don't deny that it's difficult," Katyal said, "but I think what this Court has said in (a previous case), a serious economic dislocation isn't a reason to do something."

Trump, however, said a ruling against him "would be a disaster."

"Frankly, it would be a national security problem for our country. And nobody thinks it's going to be reversed. I think we had a very good court case. As you know, it's before the Supreme Court right now," Trump said in the Oval Office on Nov. 10.

The president insinuated over the weekend that there was enough money coming in from tariffs that he could offer American families rebates. Any excess money the United States takes in, he said, will be used to pay down the national debt, which currently stands at $38 trillion.

"We’re going to issue a dividend to our middle income people and lower-income people of about $2,000 and we’re going to use the remaining tariffs to lower our debt, we’re going to be lowering our debt, which is a national security thing," Trump said in the Oval Office on Nov. 10.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan nonprofit that studies fiscal policy, projects that the rebates could cost around $600 billion ‒ which is about double what the United States is expected to generate from the new duties on imports this year. Any paychecks to American families would require congressional approval.

This story has been updated to add new information.

Contributing: Bart Jansen, Joey Garrison

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump ratchets up pressure on Supreme Court not to overturn his tariffs

Reporting by Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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