A United States federal trade court has blocked President Donald Trump from enforcing a broad set of tariffs, including his recently announced "Liberation Day" duties, ruling that he had exceeded his authority by unilaterally imposing levies on imports from nations with trading surpluses against the United States.
The ruling was issued Wednesday by a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of International Trade in Manhattan.
The panel found that Trump unlawfully invoked emergency economic powers to justify tariffs that targeted a wide array of countries, ruling that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress sole authority over foreign commerce, a power not superseded by the president's emergency economic powers.
"The court does not pass upon the wisdom or likely effectiveness of the President’s use of tariffs as leverage. That use is impermissible not because it is unwise or ineffective, but because [federal law] does not allow it," the judges wrote in their decision.
The ruling came in response to two separate lawsuits: one brought by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of five small U.S. importers, and another by a coalition of 13 states led by Oregon.
The plaintiffs argued that the tariffs would severely impact their business, citing increased costs for goods such as wine, spirits, educational kits, and musical instruments.
Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, introduced on 2 April, targeted goods from key U.S. allies. While he later paused the measures for 90 days beginning 9 April, he maintained a 10% universal tariff on most imports.
The president justified the action under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which allows the executive to respond to “unusual and extraordinary threats”.
He had also relied on the IEEPA to enact 20% tariffs on Chinese goods and 25% duties on goods from Mexico and Canada in efforts he claimed would reduce fentanyl trafficking.
However, the court sided with the plaintiff's argument that the administration had failed to establish the legal conditions necessary to declare a national emergency under the IEEPA.
The judges stated that the law does not permit the type of sweeping and retaliatory measures that were enacted.
“IEEPA does not authorise any of the worldwide, retaliatory, or trafficking tariff orders,” the panel wrote.
“The worldwide and retaliatory tariff orders exceed any authority granted to the president by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs. The trafficking tariffs fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders.”
The Trump administration reportedly filed a notice of appeal, while White House officials issued public statements disputing the court’s authority in the matter.
“Foreign countries’ nonreciprocal treatment of the United States has fueled America’s historic and persistent trade deficits,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.
“These deficits have created a national emergency that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defence industrial base – facts that the court did not dispute.”
“It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,” Desai added.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, whose office led the state coalition lawsuit, welcomed the decision.
"This ruling reaffirms that our laws matter, and that trade decisions can’t be made on the president’s whim," Rayfield said in a statement.
“Trump’s tariffs were unlawful, reckless and economically devastating.”
