Trump tariffs face legal battle as federal appeals court temporarily blocks trade ruling

A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump’s tariffs to remain in effect for now, despite another court’s ruling just one day earlier that said the president overstepped his authority by imposing the tariffs.

In its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted an immediate administrative state to the extent that permanent injunctions entered by the Court of International Trade on Wednesday are temporarily stayed until at least June 9.

After June 9, the court can issue an order of enforcement.

"The plaintiffs-appellees are directed to respond to the United States's motions for a stay no later than June 5, 2025," the decision read. "The United States may file a single, consolidated re-ply in support no later than June 9, 2025."

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The U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday ruled that Trump overstepped his authority over tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

"The Constitution assigns Congress the exclusive powers to ‘lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,’ and to ‘regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,’" the court opined. "The question in the two cases before the court is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 ('IEEPA') delegates these powers to the President in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world."

"The court does not read IEEPA to confer such unbounded authority and sets aside the challenged tariffs imposed thereunder," it continued.

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The three judges who ruled on the matter were appointed by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, as well as Trump himself.

The panel did not waste time in its decision and bypassed the plaintiff's preliminary requests for temporary injunctive relief to get straight to the merits, vacating the tariffs and permanently enjoining them from enforcement.

"The court holds for the foregoing reasons that IEEPA does not authorize any of the Worldwide, Retaliatory, or Trafficking Tariff Orders. The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs," the panel wrote. "The Trafficking Tariffs fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders."

The Trump administration immediately appealed the court's decision.

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The White House on Thursday told FOX Business that the ruling is a positive development.

"The Federal Circuit Court’s administrative stay on the Court of International Trade’s ruling is a positive development for America’s industries and workers," White House spokesperson Kush Desai said. "The Trump administration remains committed to addressing our country’s national emergencies of drug trafficking and historic trade deficits with every legal authority conferred to the President in the Constitution and by Congress. Regardless of the developments of this litigation, the President will continue to use all tools at his disposal to advance trade policy that works for all Americans."

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Trump announced his highly anticipated reciprocal tariff plan as part of his "Liberation Day" announcement on April 2.

The president announced customized tariffs on dozens of nations to help bring parity to what he said were decades of foreign nations installing trade barriers on U.S. goods, while also imposing a 10% baseline tariff on all countries.