The Trump administration scored a significant legal win Thursday, thanks to a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.
In a short ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed to pause enforcement of an earlier decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade, stating it would issue an immediate administrative stay “to the extent that the judgments and the permanent injunctions entered by the Court of International Trade in these cases are temporarily stayed” for now.
This decision effectively puts a temporary freeze on a lower court’s ruling that had blocked several of former President Donald Trump’s tariff measures.
On Wednesday, a three-judge panel had unanimously determined that Trump had overstepped his bounds under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 by using it to impose widespread tariffs on imports from numerous countries around the globe.
The U.S. Court of International Trade had issued a sweeping injunction that struck down Trump’s 10 percent tariff, which had targeted nearly all of America’s trade allies, as well as specific duties on goods from China, Mexico, and Canada.
“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,” the court added.
The initial ruling caused a stir in financial markets, with the U.S. dollar gaining strength following the announcement. At that point, the judges had instructed the current administration to revise the tariff policies in line with the permanent injunction, giving them a 10-day window to comply.
Trump’s legal team quickly filed an appeal, raising multiple questions about the court’s interpretation of executive authority. Notably, the ruling did not touch on specific tariffs targeting industries such as steel, aluminum, and automobiles.
According to Reuters, “The decisions of the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade, which hears disputes involving international trade and customs laws, can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Even with this major court win, the Trump team still faces a number of pending legal challenges that claim the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs overstepped the president’s statutory powers.
