Key points
- Appeals court on 7-4 vote rules against Trump’s tariffs
- Court delays ruling taking effect to allow for Supreme Court appeal
- Trump administration may have Plan B
ISLAMABAD: A US appeals court has ruled that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal, undercutting the Republican president’s use of the levies as a key international economic policy tool.
On Friday, the court on appeals allowed the tariffs to remain in place through October 14 to give the Trump administration a chance to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court, according to Reuters news agency.
Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on almost all US trading partners, with a 10-per-cent baseline level and higher rates for dozens of economies.
He has invoked similar authorities to slap separate tariffs hitting Mexico, Canada and China over the flow of deadly drugs into the United States.
But the 7-4 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court’s finding that Trump had exceeded his authority in tapping emergency economic powers to impose wide-ranging duties.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, and the appeals court therefore said his tariff policy could remain in place until October 14.
Trump Lashed out the ruling on his Truth Social platform.
The appeals court “incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end,” he said in a statement on his platform.
He added that he would fight back “with the help of the United States Supreme Court.”
The decision marks a blow to the president, who has wielded duties as a wide-ranging economic policy tool.
Sector-specific tariffs
It could also cast doubt over deals Trump has struck with major trading partners, such as the European Union, and raise the question of what would happen to the billions of dollars collected by the United States since the tariffs were put in place if the conservative-majority Supreme Court does not back him.
Friday’s case, however, does not deal with sector-specific tariffs that the Trump administration has also imposed on steel, aluminium, autos and other imports.
Powers questioned
The Court of International Trade had ruled in May that Trump overstepped his authority with across-the-board global levies, blocking most of the duties from taking effect, but the appeals court later put the ruling on hold to consider the case, according to AFP.
Friday’s ruling noted that “the statute bestows significant authority on the President to undertake a number of actions in response to a declared national emergency, but none of these actions explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like, or the power to tax.”
It added that it was not addressing if Trump’s actions should have been taken as a matter of policy or deciding whether IEEPA authorizes any tariffs at all.
Instead, it sought to resolve the question of whether Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs and those imposed over trafficking were authorized, with the document noting: “We conclude they are not.”
