A US appeals court on Friday ruled that many of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have upended global trade, were illegal — but allowed them to remain in place for now, giving him time to take the fight to the US Supreme Court.
The seven to four 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.
However, the judges allowed the tariffs to stay in place through mid-October — and Trump swiftly made clear he would put the time to use.
Photo: AFP
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 wrote on social media.
He added that he would fight back “with the help of the United States Supreme Court.”
The decision is a blow to Trump, who has wielded duties as a wide-ranging economic policy tool.
It could also cast doubt over deals Trump has struck with major trading partners such as the EU, and raised the question of what would happen to the billions of US dollars collected by the US since the tariffs were put in place if the conservative-majority Supreme Court does not back him.
Friday’s case does not deal with sector-specific tariffs that the Trump administration has also imposed on steel, aluminum, autos and other imports.
Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on almost all US trading partners, with a 10 percent baseline level and higher rates for dozens of economies.
He has invoked similar authorities to slap separate tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China over the flow of deadly drugs into the US.
The Court of International Trade in May ruled 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.
Friday’s ruling said 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 tariffs and those imposed over trafficking were authorized, with the document saying: “We conclude they are not.”
In a supplementary filing just hours before the appeals court released its decision, Trump Cabinet officials said that ruling the global tariffs illegal and blocking them would hurt US foreign policy and national security.
“Such a ruling would threaten broader US strategic interests at home and abroad, likely lead to retaliation and the unwinding of agreed-upon deals by foreign-trading partners,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said.
They could also “derail critical ongoing negotiations” with partners, he added.
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said that suspending the effectiveness of tariffs “would lead to dangerous diplomatic embarrassment.”
Several legal challenges have been filed against the tariffs Trump invoked citing emergencies.
If these tariffs are ultimately ruled illegal, companies could possibly seek reimbursements.
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