A United States Federal Appeals Court has temporarily stayed a ruling from the Court of International Trade that struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping use of emergency powers to impose tariffs.
Executive use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify Trump's tariff agenda was deemed unlawful by the lower court earlier this week, prompting an immediate appeal from the administration.
The decision to stay by the Appeals Court means that tariffs - central to Trump’s industrial strategy - remain in force as legal arguments continue to play out. Both sides have been instructed to submit written briefs by early next month.
Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro said the administration was assessing “all strategic options".
“We will hear, within the next day or two, at a minimum, from the U.S. Trade Representative on how we will respond to all of this. We will respond forcefully, and we think we have a very good case with respect to this,” Navarro said.
“I can assure the American people that the Trump tariff agenda is alive, well, healthy and will be implemented to protect you, to save your jobs and your factories and to stop shipping foreign wealth, our wealth, into foreign hands."
The move injects fresh uncertainty into an already tangled legal and policy environment. Will Trump be able to assert his authority over international trade?
There may be grave implications for just how far presidential emergency powers can be stretched in the name of economic nationalism.
For now, businesses and markets are left navigating a policy still very much in flux.
