Most of Trump’s global tariffs are not legal, US court says

Appeals court decision found that Trump exceeded his authority in imposing tariffs

The tariffs will remain in place through Oct. 14 to give the Trump administration time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

In a setback for President Donald Trump’s trade policy, a U.S. appeals court ruled Friday that most of the tariffs his administration imposed were unlawful.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a 7-4 decision, found that the emergency law Trump cited to impose his broad import tariffs did not actually give him the authority to levy them.

The ruling could affect Trump’s wide-ranging reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2, as well as tariffs imposed on China, Canada, and Mexico aimed at pressuring those countries to curb shipments of fentanyl into the United States.

The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place through Oct. 14 to give the administration time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Trump administration had relied on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to argue that the president could impose country-specific tariffs at any level if deemed necessary to address a national emergency.

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Noi Mahoney

Noi Mahoney is a Texas-based journalist who covers cross-border trade, logistics and supply chains for FreightWaves. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 1998. Mahoney has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working for newspapers in Maryland and Texas. Contact nmahoney@freightwaves.com