Court Blocks Trump's Tariff Plan in Major Blow to Trade Agenda
President Donald Trump's attempt to enact wide-ranging taxes on imported goods was stopped by a U.S. court utilizing an emergency power statute.
On Wednesday, a group of judges at the Court of International Trade in New York convened. delivered the verdict Following multiple legal actions claiming that Trump had surpassed his powers. , making U.S. trade policy vulnerable to his unpredictable decisions and leading to economic unrest.
The court ruled: "The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders go beyond the authority granted to the President under the IEEPA for regulating imports through tariffs," referencing the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
READ MORE: Angry Melania Trump speaks out against embarrassing Barron conspiracy theory
READ MORE: Trump plans to cut off all federal funding to Harvard due to online claims that the university denied admission to Barron.
The Associated Press reports that there are at least seven legal challenges against the tariffs, which have become a key aspect of President Trump’s approach to trade.
Usually needing congressional consent for imposing tariffs, Trump asserts he can bypass this requirement by invoking a state of national emergency over the country’s trade imbalances. These duties imposed by him have had worldwide impacts, leading to volatile responses from markets around the globe.
Plaintiffs argue that the Emergency Powers Act does not sanction tariffs and, even if it did, the trade deficit does not meet the legal threshold of an emergency, which necessitates an "unusual and extraordinary threat."
For 49 continuous years, the United States has seen a trade deficit with the global market.
In reaction, the Trump administration imposed tariffs globally to tackle America’s significant and longstanding trade imbalances. Earlier steps taken by Trump involved duties on goods coming from Canada, China, and Mexico aimed at combating illegal immigration and the influx of synthetic opioids into the country.
The administration contends that the courts previously supported President Richard Nixon’s invocation of an emergency tariff measure in 1971, asserting that only Congress holds the authority to determine the “politically charged” question regarding the legitimacy of the current president’s declared state of emergency according to legal standards.
Tariffs enforced by Trump on Liberation Day shook global financial markets, causing many economists to lower their projections for U.S. economic growth. However, these tariffs appear to have had a negligible effect on the world's leading economy to date.