A US federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s global trade tariffs, a central part of his economic policies.
On 28 May, the Court of International Trade ruled that the emergency law the White House invoked did not give the president the authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country worldwide.
Furthermore, the court emphasized that the US Constitution gives Congress exclusive power to regulate commerce with other nations,and this authority is not overridden by the president’s mandate to safeguard the economy. The panel also stated that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which Trump used to justify the tariffs, does not authorize the president to impose universal import duties. The Trump administration announced plans to appeal the ruling shortly after it was issued.
The court invalidated all of Trump’s tariff orders since January that were based on the IEEPA, a law designed to address “unusual and extraordinary” threats during national emergencies, with immediate effect. However, the court did not address some industry-specific tariffs on automobiles, steel and aluminum.
To remind, on 2 April President Trump imposed a global tariff regime, placing a 10% baseline tariff on most US trading partners and steeper reciprocal tariffs on countries including the EU, UK, Canada, Mexico and China. He argued this policy would boost domestic manufacturing, shipbuilding and protect jobs.
Since then, the situation caused global market disruption, worsened by Trump’s later reversals and pauses on tariffs as foreign governments entered negotiations. A US-China trade war ensued, with tariffs reaching 145% on US taxes for Chinese imports and 125% on Chinese taxes for US imports.
The two countries have now agreed to a truce, lowering US duties on China to 30% and Chinese tariffs on some US goods to 10%.
The UK and US also agreed on reduced tariffs, however President Trump threatened a 50% tariff on EU goods starting in June due to slow trade talks but extended the deadline.
