US Court of Appeals grants extension of Donald Trump's tariffs

A U.S. federal appeals court has granted an extension to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump , both "reciprocal" and those related to the "national emergency."

On May 28, the U.S. Court of International Trade struck down these tariffs, arguing that the president overstepped his legal authority; however, the Trump administration filed a notice of appeal.

Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs on 185 countries or territories worldwide, ranging from 10 to 50%, and authorized a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada and a 20% tariff on China for insufficient cooperation in drug trafficking (particularly fentanyl). In all of these cases, the tariffs were imposed on all imported products, with certain exceptions.

The Trade Court ruled that the tariffs against Mexico, Canada, and China invoked under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) do not address the fentanyl emergency. "However successful this diplomatic strategy may be, it does not meet the legal definition of 'addressing' the aforementioned (fentanyl) emergency," it rejected.

Furthermore, the Court ruled that declaring a trade deficit a "national emergency" exceeds the limits of the presidential term and represents an unconstitutional transfer of powers from Congress to the Executive Branch.

But the tariffs were not effectively eliminated because the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit immediately placed an administrative stay on the Court of International Trade's decision until it could hear further legal arguments.

Against this backdrop, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday granted the Trump administration's request to keep the Republican-backed tariffs in place for now, but agreed to expedite its consideration of the case this summer.

The Court of Appeals announced it plans to hear arguments on July 31, meaning the tariffs will remain in place for at least the next two months.

According to The Wall Street Journal, all of the court's active judges will participate in the case. The losing side is expected to request a review by the Supreme Court.

In early June, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the tariffs the United States imposes on dozens of countries aren't going away one way or another.

The official made this statement after the U.S. Court of International Trade and a second federal court rejected the President's use of emergency law to impose tariffs while the White House Trade Representative is negotiating trade agreements.

“Rest assured, the tariffs aren't going away,” Lutnick said. “He has so many other powers that, even in the rare and unusual circumstance that this one were eliminated, we would simply apply another one or another. Congress has given the President this power, and he will use it.”