The Trump administration was handed a major victory by a federal appeals court in the nation’s capital on Thursday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stated in a brief order that it is granting the administration’s request for 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 the time being.
The ruling temporarily halts the federal trade court’s decision to block many of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
A panel consisting of three judges ruled unanimously on Wednesday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which the president cited to impose the levies, didn’t grant Trump the authority to create unlimited tariffs on imports from almost every foreign country.
The U.S. Court of International Trade slapped a permanent ban on the president’s 10 percent tariff that was placed on nearly every trading partner of the United States, along with Trump’s duties on imports coming 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.
At the time the panel made this ruling, financial markets were thrilled. The U.S. dollar actually increased its value after the order. At the time, the judges had ordered the current administration to go back to the drawing board and craft new tariffs that reflect the permanent injunction within a period of 10 days.
Trump’s administration appealed the decision immediately and issued several questions concerning the authority of the court. The court was not asked to address some of the industry-specific tariffs the president issued on steel and aluminum, automobiles, and more.
“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,” Reuters reported.
Despite the big victory, there are still several lawsuits active that argue the “Liberation Day” tariffs have exceeded the legal authority of the commander-in-chief.
