On May 28, the United States Court of International Trade ruled that Trump did not have the authority under federal law to unilaterally tariff most of America’s trading partners, even with his “emergency” declaration.
To implement such sweeping tariffs, the Trump administration adopted a liberal view of the powers granted by the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which does enable a President to immediately impose trade embargoes and sanctions. Tariffs are not mentioned by the act.
On Wednesday, the Court of International Trade, the primary federal legal body overseeing such matters, found that Mr. Trump’s tariffs “exceed any authority granted” to the president by the emergency powers law. Ruling in separate cases brought by states and businesses, a bipartisan panel of three judges essentially declared many, but not all, of Mr. Trump’s tariffs to have been issued illegally.
It was not clear precisely when and how the tariff collections would grind to a halt. The ruling gave the executive branch up to 10 days to complete the bureaucratic process of ending them. The Trump administration immediately filed its plans to appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The New York Times
A day later, a federal appeals court allowed the tariffs to remain after the Trump administration appealed the initial ruling. The next hearing will take place on June 5.
Trump still has other means to maintain the tariffs. The initial ruling did not comment on tariffs regarding “some specific goods like cars, steel and aluminium, which fall under a different law.” Trump can also use national security and other countries engaging in unfair trade policies as legal justifications to impose the tariffs, though doing so requires investigations and public commenting. He may also test out an act passed in the 1930s that enables the United States to retaliate against discriminatory trade policies.
During the 2024 Presidential campaign and to this day, Trump has demonstrated a basic lack of understanding about tariffs. He has repeatedly made the claim that other countries pay for the tariffs, while it is, in fact, American importers, and ultimately American consumers, that do so.
