A panel of judges has blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to impose extensive tariffs on imports
President Donald Trump’s effort to impose broad tariffs on imports was halted by a U.S. court using an emergency powers statute.
On Wednesday, a panel of judges at the Court of International Trade in New York delivered the verdict following a series of lawsuits arguing that Trump had exceeded his authority, rendering U.S. trade policy susceptible to his erratic decisions and causing economic instability.
The court decreed: “The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” citing the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
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According to the Associated Press, there are at least seven lawsuits opposing the tariffs, which have been a focal point of President Trump’s trade stance.
Typically requiring congressional approval for tariffs, Trump has claimed the ability to sidestep such approval due to a national emergency status declared for the nation’s trade deficits. His tariffs have affected countries globally, sparking unpredictable market reactions.
Plaintiffs argue that the Emergency Powers Act does not sanction tariffs and, even if it did, the trade deficit does not meet the legal threshold of an emergency, which necessitates an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”
The United States has experienced a trade deficit with the rest of the world for 49 consecutive years.
In response, the Trump administration implemented tariffs on nations worldwide to address the United States’ substantial and long-standing trade deficits. Prior actions by Trump introduced levies on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico as measures against illegal immigration and the trafficking of synthetic opioids into the U.S..
The administration argues that the courts upheld then-President Richard Nixon’s emergency use of tariffs back in 1971 and that only Congress has the power to decide the “political” issue of whether the president’s declared emergency is valid under the law.
Tariffs enforced by Trump on Liberation Day shook global financial markets, causing many economists to lower their projections for U.S. economic growth. However, these tariffs appear to have had a negligible effect on the world’s leading economy to date.
