A United States federal appeals court ruled that most of former President Donald Trump’s tariffs are unlawful, dealing a significant blow to one of the defining pillars of his economic policy, Reuters reported.
The ruling, which came in a 7-4 decision on Friday, from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, found that Trump overstepped his legal authority in imposing broad tariffs using emergency powers.
The decision is stayed until October 14, giving the Trump administration time to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump slammed the ruling, calling the court “highly partisan.”
The tariffs in question were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law traditionally used to sanction foreign adversaries or freeze their assets.
Trump, however, used the act to justify sweeping tariffs on imports from a number of US trading partners, arguing that persistent trade deficits and the flow of illegal drugs like fentanyl posed national emergencies.
The court rejected that argument, stating in its ruling, “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 continued, “It seems unlikely that Congress intended, in enacting IEEPA, to depart from its past practice and grant the President unlimited authority to impose tariffs.”
The ruling covers two sets of tariffs imposed during Trump’s second term: a set of “reciprocal” tariffs introduced in April as part of a broader trade offensive, and another set from February targeting China, Canada, and Mexico.
Trump had linked the latter to what he claimed was those nations’ failure to curb the flow of illegal fentanyl across US borders — an assertion all three countries have rejected.
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