Trade court blocks President Trump's tariffs, ruling they exceed legal authority
A federal court ruled President Donald Trump can't use an emergency-powers law to impose tariffs on foreign countries, dealing a blow to his trade agenda.
The three-judge panel of the United States Court of International Trade unanimously found that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which Trump invoked to unilaterally enact duties on foreign goods, "does not authorize" the tariffs and ordered them halted.
The ruling notes that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority to "regulate commerce with foreign nations."
"The question... is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act... delegates these powers to the President in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world," the ruling added. "The court does not read IEEPA to confer such unbounded authority and sets aside the challenged tariffs."
The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal minutes after the ruling.
Tariffs are a centerpiece of Trump's second-term economic agenda. The president has imposed steep levies on goods from foreign countries, igniting international furor and disrupting the global economy.
Trump announced big reciprocal tariffs on a slew of nations last month. He later paused most of them while he negotiated trade deals.
In imposing the tariffs in early April, Trump called the trade deficit a national emergency that justified his 10% across-the-board tariff on all imports, with higher rates for countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits, particularly China.
"It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. "President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness."
The trade court ruling is a setback for Trump's efforts to wield tariffs as an economic tool. It came in a pair of lawsuits, one filed by the nonpartisan Liberty Justice Center on behalf of five small U.S. businesses that import goods from countries targeted by the duties and the other by 13 U.S. states.
The companies, which range from a New York wine and spirits importer to a Virginia-based maker of educational kits and musical instruments, have said that the tariffs will hurt their ability to do business.
Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote on social media in response to the ruling that "the judicial coup is out of control."
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, a Democrat whose office is leading the lawsuit by 13 U.S. states, called Trump's tariffs unlawful, reckless, and economically devastating.
"This ruling reaffirms that our laws matter, and that trade decisions can't be made on the president's whim," Rayfield said in a statement.
Trump has claimed broad authority to set tariffs under the IEEPA, which is meant to address "unusual and extraordinary" threats during a national emergency.
More: How Trump's clash with the courts is brewing into an 'all-out war'
The law has historically been used to impose sanctions on enemies of the United States or freeze their assets. Trump is the first U.S. president to use it to impose tariffs.
The Justice Department has said the lawsuits should be dismissed because the plaintiffs have not been harmed by tariffs that they have not yet paid, and because only Congress, not private businesses, can challenge a national emergency declared by the president under IEEPA.
The Court of International Trade is a specialized federal court based in New York City with nationwide jurisdiction. Its rulings can be appealed up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and, eventually, to the Supreme Court.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trade court blocks President Donald Trump's tariffs
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