A federal appeals court on Thursday halted a ruling blocking President Donald Trump’s global tariffs as the White House appeals the ruling.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit paused the Court of International Trade’s decision from one day earlier that blocked Trump’s sweeping worldwide tariff package and other tariffs he has imposed since his term began.
“The judgments and the permanent injunctions entered by the Court of International Trade in these cases are temporarily stayed until further notice while this court considers the motions papers,” the appeals court said in its order. The appellate court is allowing both sides to send written briefs containing their arguments in early June before it decides whether to extend the pause.
A panel of three judges on the Court of International Trade determined that Trump could not unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, a ruling that threatens to derail a core component of the president’s economic agenda. The judges sided with two sets of plaintiffs, a group of businesses and a coalition of states challenging Trump’s authority to issue tariffs with the IEEPA.
The federal government immediately appealed the Court of International Trade’s ruling.
“Three judges of the U.S. Court of International Trade disagreed and brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump to stop him from carrying out the mandate that the American people gave him,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
“These judges failed to acknowledge that the president of the United States has core foreign affairs powers and authority given to him by Congress to protect the United States economy and national security.”
Earlier Thursday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked Trump from imposing tariffs under the IEEPA specifically on two Illinois companies. The ruling will be on hold for 14 days to give the federal government the opportunity to appeal.
Before Trump’s term, the IEEPA was never used by the president to create new tariffs through executive action. The IEEPA allows the president to authorize emergency economic actions in the face of a foreign threat, such as embargoes or sanctions, but it says nothing about tariffs.
President Trump enacted sweeping “liberation day” tariffs last month to tax imports coming from numerous countries around the world. Those tariffs came after Trump announced levies on Mexico, Canada, and China intended to pressure those countries into doing more to stop the flow of fentanyl across U.S. borders. After “liberation day,” the U.S. and China raised tariffs on each other in a tit-for-tat escalatory spiral that culminated in 145 percent U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump’s tariff package sparked widespread panic on Wall Street, leading to an extended market downturn and dire economic forecasts. Most economists and financial analysts expected the tariffs to significantly raise prices on business and consumers while hindering economic growth. President Trump and his officials have argued the tariffs are necessary to put a stop to decades of unfair trade practices and rebuild the U.S. industrial base.
The market decline caused Trump to pause most of the tariffs for 90 days as the administration attempts to broker trade deals. The Trump administration and China came to an agreement earlier this month to pause the tariffs while the world’s largest economies negotiate a deal. In the meantime, the U.S. will have 30 percent tariffs on Chinese good and China will have a 10 percent levy on American goods.