Jesse Watters Bizarrely Claims Trump Has ‘Gotten the Panama Canal Back’ Thanks to Tariffs

On Friday’s edition of Fox’s The Five, Jesse Watters bizarrely claimed that President Donald Trump has “gotten the Panama Canal back” thanks to his tariffs, many of which were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court hours earlier.

In a 6-3 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, Trump-appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett sided with three liberal justices to strike down the president’s sweeping emergency tariffs in a ruling that CNN called “arguably the most important loss the second Trump administration has sustained at the conservative Supreme Court.”

“He’s now gotten the Panama Canal back from tariffs, he’s brought Greenland back into our orbit, and he’s gotten NATO funding boosted from tariffs,” said Watters. “Not to mention the fact that wars have been settled because of tariffs.”

In response to Watters’ comments, Fred Wellman, a Democratic candidate for Congress in Missouri, posted on X, writing, “None of this is true. This isn’t how tariffs work.”

Earlier in Friday’s edition of The Five, Watters also said of the ruling, “The Supreme Court comes in and says, ‘Listen, you can’t use this authority, you have to use this authority,’ so you have to do an investigation first. That’s like telling a landscaper, ‘You can’t use a leaf blower, you have to use a rake.'”

He went on to lament that Trump doesn’t have the same powers as Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.

“Xi Jinping — he dumps, and he tariffs. He’s got a sword and a shield,” said Watters before fellow Fox host Jessica Tarlov interjected, saying, “He’s a dictator!”

“He’s not a sitting duck like us, who has to wait, and then go and do an investigation, and then come back — this is what we need now,” concluded Watters.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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