A federal judge has rejected an emergency lawsuit aimed at stopping President Donald Trump’s tariff strategies from being implemented.
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II rejected a Florida-based stationary company’s emergency motion to stay their challenge to the president’s tariffs. The judge punted the case to the U.S. Court of International Trade for further review, noting that it “makes no sense for this case to remain in this court because the CIT is already considering multiple nearly identical suits.”
Wetherell further asserted that Trump has the authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to unilaterally impose his sweeping tariff strategy for reasons other than raising revenue, according to a report from Fox Business.
The decision marks the first time a federal judge has sided with Trump’s assertion that the IEEPA allows him to unilaterally impose tariffs for reasons other than growing revenue. It also represents a victory for the Trump Administration, which has sought to move its cases to the U.S. Court of International Trade.
Plaintiffs in the case have contended in a series of lawsuits that Trump inappropriately used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to implement his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariff strategy.
Wetherell did not agree, as the judge found that Trump did have the ability to enact the tariffs.  The question “was effectively answered 50 years ago” by the precedent set in United States v. Yoshida International Inc., a case brought by a Japanese zipper company under the Nixon administration, the judge found.
Judge Wetherell found that Trump’s rationale for implementing the trade barriers, including demands that China and neighboring countries halt the flow of fentanyl into the United States and reducing trade deficits, are sufficient enough to satisfy the terms of the IEEPA.
“Likewise, the stated purpose of the tariffs at issue in this case is to help stem the flow of illicit drugs into the United States and to remedy an ongoing trade imbalance, not to raise revenue,” Judge Wetherell said.
The case will now be further litigated by the U.S. Court of International Trade. It is unclear how the court will rule, though the Trump Administration has been able to secure more favorable rulings there in the past.
Earlier this year, the three-judge panel rejected a request filed by a group of small businesses that sought to immediately halt Trump’s tariffs from taking force, finding that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that they would suffer “immediate and irreparable harm” as a result of the economic penalties.
