Federal Appeals Court Overturns Tariff Pause, For Now
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WASHINGTON — The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on May 29 allowed President Donald Trump to temporarily continue collecting tariffs under the emergency powers law while he appeals the federal trade court’s decision.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade had ruled May 28 that Trump overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency and plaster tariffs on imports from almost every country in the world. USCIT has jurisdiction over civil cases involving trade. The legal challenge to Trump’s tariffs is widely expected to end up at the Supreme Court.
The ruling was a big setback for Trump, whose erratic trade policies have rocked financial markets, paralyzed businesses with uncertainty and raised fears of higher prices and slower economic growth.
But Trump’s trade wars are far from over.
The administration also has other ways to pursue the president’s goal of using tariffs to lure factories back to America, raise money for the Treasury and pressure other countries into bending to his will, if Trump’s appeal is ultimately unsuccessful.
Financial markets, which would welcome an end to Trump’s tariffs, had a muted response to the news as stocks rose modestly.
“Investors are not getting too carried away, presumably in the expectation that the White House will find a work-around that allows them to continue to pursue their trade agenda,’’ said Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at the financial services firm Ebury.
Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are being challenged in at least seven lawsuits. In the May 28 ruling, the trade court combined two of the cases — one brought by five small businesses and another by 12 U.S. states.
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