(TJV NEWS)A federal appeals court has struck down most of former President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, delivering a significant blow to one of the central pillars of his trade agenda, CNBC reported Friday.
In a 7-4 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Trump exceeded his authority when imposing sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). According to CNBC, the court held that only Congress has the constitutional authority to impose tariffs, calling them a “core Congressional power.”
The ruling, however, will not immediately take effect. The appellate court paused enforcement until October 14, giving the Trump administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court. Trump quickly blasted the decision, denouncing the panel as “Highly Partisan” and insisting the nation’s highest court will overturn the ruling. “If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country,” he wrote on Truth Social, as cited by CNBC.
The White House echoed Trump’s defiance. “The President’s tariffs remain in effect, and we look forward to ultimate victory on this matter,” spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement quoted by CNBC.
Friday’s decision marks the second consecutive loss for Trump in the high-stakes case, formally titled V.O.S. Selections v. Trump. The consolidated lawsuit included challenges brought by a coalition of states and several small businesses. Attorneys for the plaintiffs hailed the ruling as a critical defense of constitutional checks and balances.
“This decision protects American businesses and consumers from the uncertainty and harm caused by these unlawful tariffs,” said Jeffrey Schwab of the Liberty Justice Center, one of the groups representing the small-business plaintiffs. His co-counsel Neal Katyal added that the ruling was “a powerful reaffirmation of our nation’s core constitutional commitments,” according to CNBC.
Trump’s legal team has argued that IEEPA grants broad presidential authority to impose tariffs in response to national security threats. But both the Court of International Trade earlier this year and now the Federal Circuit rejected that claim. CNBC noted that the judges emphasized the extraordinary scope of Trump’s tariffs, which applied to nearly all imports and, in the case of the reciprocal tariffs, almost all trading partners worldwide.
“Both the Trafficking Tariffs and the Reciprocal Tariffs are unbounded in scope, amount, and duration,” the majority opinion said, according to CNBC. The dissenting judges, however, argued that the plaintiffs had not adequately demonstrated their case for striking down the tariffs.
The appeals panel’s ruling came just hours after Trump’s trade team asked the court to consider new developments, including a Congressional Budget Office estimate claiming tariffs would reduce U.S. deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned that eliminating the tariffs would “cause massive and irreparable harm” to U.S. foreign policy and economic interests.
As CNBC highlighted, the case represents the furthest along of more than half a dozen federal lawsuits challenging Trump’s reliance on emergency economic powers to reshape global trade. With the Supreme Court now likely to take up the matter, the future of Trump’s tariff regime — and its place in U.S. trade law — hangs in the balance.