Appeals Court Allows Trump Tariffs to Stay in Effect for Now
A federal appeals court temporarily paused a ruling against President Donald Trump’s global tariffs while weighing a longer lasting hold on the sweeping decision, with the administration vowing to take the matter to the US Supreme Court if necessary.
A brief order granting the stay was issued Thursday by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the latest twist in a case that has upended a pillar of Trump’s economic agenda. It puts an order blocking Trump’s tariffs on hold while the appeals court weighs a longer lasting stay sought by the government.
In a court filing earlier Thursday, the Justice Department said the decision a day earlier by the US Court of International Trade harmed the government’s diplomacy and intruded on Trump’s exclusive authority to conduct foreign affairs. It asked the Federal Circuit to put the ruling on hold while the administration pursued a formal appeal.
The Federal Circuit didn’t say how long its order will last, but it laid out a briefing schedule that runs through June 9. The Trump administration is simultaneously asking the US Court of International Trade to put its own order on hold while the case is on appeal.
The administration faced another setback Thursday when a federal judge in Washington released a separate ruling that declared a number of Trump’s tariffs unlawful related to trade with China and other countries. US District Judge Rudolph Contreras limited his decision to the family-owned toy manufacturing businesses that sued. He also delayed his order from taking effect for 14 days to allow the US Justice Department to appeal.
Contreras denied the government’s request to move that case to the Court of International Trade. A challenge to his decision would go to a different appeals court, the DC Circuit.
The government is moving quickly to try to keep the sweeping tariffs in effect. The trade court gave the administration a 10-day window to “effectuate” its order. The Justice Department on Wednesday also asked that court to put its own ruling on hold, similarly citing the ongoing negotiations.
In a ruling that took many by surprise, a three-judge panel of the trade court held that Trump exceeded the authority granted him by a 1977 emergency law in imposing his “Liberation Day” global tariffs and other sweeping levies. The decision was handed down in a pair of related suits filed by a group of small businesses and about a dozen Democratic-led states.
The Trump administration earlier said it would ask the US Supreme Court to intervene as soon as Friday if a lower court didn’t immediately put the Court of International Trade ruling on hold.
Source : Bloomberg
