U.S. appeals court stays the ruling of lower court on Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports
A U.S. federal appeals court is temporarily leaving in force President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports, upending a lower-court ruling the day before that declared tariffs brought in under national emergency powers unlawful.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington on Thursday stayed a ruling by the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade from the previous day that ordered a halt to many of Mr. Trump’s tariffs.
The stay will last while the appellate court decides on a request by the Trump administration to continue collecting tariffs during the appeals process. On Thursday, Mr. Trump called on the Supreme Court to step in, while the White House signalled it was exploring other avenues for enacting tariffs.
These latest developments set up a legal battle over the centrepiece of Mr. Trump’s global trade war, adding uncertainty to what was already one of the President’s most chaotic files.
Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the trade court decision, which found Mr. Trump overstepped his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to impose tariffs on nearly every country in the world, saying it vindicated Canada’s position.
Mr. Carney said the tariffs imposed under the emergency law “were unlawful as well as unjustified.”
“That said, we recognize that our trading relationship with the United States is still profoundly and adversely threatened and affected by similarly unjustified” tariffs, the Prime Minister said, including on steel, aluminum and autos. He also noted the threat of further Trump tariffs on lumber, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
“It therefore remains the top priority of Canada’s new government to establish a new economic and security relationship with the United States and to strengthen our collaboration with reliable trading partners and allies around the world,” he told the House of Commons.
In a 504-word Truth Social post Thursday evening, Mr. Trump described the trade court ruling as “horrific” and born out of “purely a hatred of ‘TRUMP’.”
“Hopefully, the Supreme Court will reverse this horrible, Country threatening decision, QUICKLY and DECISIVELY. Backroom “hustlers” must not be allowed to destroy our Nation!” he wrote.
The trade court ruling ordered the Trump administration to lift the IEEPA tariffs within 10 days and pay back companies that have already been taxed. Blocking the tariffs could rob the White House of leverage as it seeks to press other countries into negotiating trade deals favourable to Washington.
Mr. Trump used IEEPA to impose his April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs, as well as tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China that he said were punishment for failing to do enough to fight illegal fentanyl, even though Canada accounts for only a tiny portion of the drug entering the U.S.
The court found that IEEPA, which says nothing about tariffs, was not intended to be used for this purpose.
The President’s tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum are not affected by the rulings, as they were imposed under different legislation, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which does explicitly grant the power to levy tariffs.
On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington also ruled against the IEEPA tariffs. His decision ordered an injunction against imposing the levies on two companies that brought a suit in his court.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said judges had “brazenly abused their judicial power” and “railroaded” the President. At a Thursday press briefing, she suggested the administration was already prepared to move forward by other means if it lost the court fight. “The President has other legal authorities where he can implement tariffs.”
Goldy Hyder, CEO of the Business Council of Canada, warned that the trade wars and court battles are creating uncertainty for companies. “The fundamental challenge business leaders face today is shifting trade goalposts, which will continue to be a challenge as this process plays itself out in court,” he said in a statement.
During Mr. Trump’s first term, he used Section 232 to implement tariffs. But this and other explicitly trade-related legislation require lengthy processes of review and consultation by the Department of Commerce before the President can enact them. So Mr. Trump turned to IEEPA seeking a faster route.
Simon Lester, a Washington-based trade analyst and former World Trade Organization official, said he believed Mr. Trump is going to keep going with his trade agenda despite the court battles. The administration has already started the process of invoking Section 232, as well as Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, for a series of other potential tariffs, including on technology products and pharmaceuticals.
“The administration is just going to bull ahead like it doesn’t matter and, to some extent, it doesn’t, because there are plenty of other avenues they can use for this,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s own volatility – he has repeatedly announced new tariffs, only to quickly roll them back in response to negative reactions from the stock market – has also added uncertainty. On Wednesday, he was asked to respond to “TACO,” an acronym used on Wall Street that stands for Trump Always Chickens Out. “Don’t ever say what you said because that’s a nasty question,” he replied.
Since starting his second term in January, Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized courts that have blocked parts of his agenda. In some high-profile immigration cases, his administration has refused to comply with judicial orders.
Mr. Trump expressed anger in his Truth Social post at having appointed Timothy Reif, one of the three judges on the trade court panel that ruled against the President. Mr. Trump installed Mr. Reif on the court in 2019 after the latter spent two years as an adviser to Mr. Trump’s trade chief.
The President blamed the appointment on bad advice from the Federalist Society, a conservative judicial organization that helped Mr. Trump choose people for the bench. He called Leonard Leo, who led that effort, a “sleazebag.”
On X Thursday, Stephen Miller, one of Mr. Trump’s top advisers, posted the biographies of the three trade court judges who unanimously struck down the tariffs, writing: “We are living under the judicial tyranny.”
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
