An American court blocked on Wednesday the “reciprocal” tariffs of at least 10% that Donald Trump imposed in April to the products that enter the country because he considers that the president exceeded. The ruling, which was rapidly appealed by the Trump administration lawyers, is an important setback for the Republican tycoon and its commercial war since it blocks most of the categories of new tariffs.
The decision falls on taxes to Canada, Mexico and China -which Trump imposed to encourage them to combat fentanyl traffic-, on the additional taxes of April 2 over all products that enter the United States, and up to 50% depending on the country of origin. However, it does not affect the levies on vehicles, steel or aluminum. China reacted on Thursday to the judicial decision by calling the United States to suppress “unjustified unilateral tariffs.”
“China urges the United States to listen to the rational voices of the international community and national interested parties and completely cancel unilateral unjustified tariff measures,” said the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce, He Yongqian, at a press conference in Beijing. Despite the uncertainty of the procedures, the financial markets celebrated the decision: the bags in Asia -tokio up to almost 2% – and the European markets opened upwards.
The three judges of the United States International Trade Court (ITC) do not question in their decision the law of the United States to increase tariffs, but estimate that Trump has overreach because it is Congress that he must do so. In the ruling, consulted by the AFP, they consider that the president cannot invoke the Law of National Emergency Powers of 1977 (IEEPA) to justify the use of presidential decrees and “impose an unlimited tariff on products of virtually any country.”
The Court explains that Congress did not delegate “unlimited powers to the President in the Law of 1977, so that the decrees of April 2” exceed the powers granted to the President under the IEEPA to regulate imports through the use of customs rates. “
“Out of control”
This law allows the President to adopt the necessary economic sanctions in case of emergency to combat an “extraordinary and unusual” threat, the court recalled. “Any interpretation of the IEEPA that delegates unlimited authority over tariffs (to the president of the United States) is unconstitutional,” the judges insisted. In a written opinion that accompanies the opinion, one of the judges considered that “an unlimited delegation of tariff authority would constitute an improper assignment of the legislative power to another branch of the Government.”
The White House lashed out at the ruling. “It does not correspond to not chosen judges to decide how to adequately address a national emergency,” said spokesman Kush Desai in a statement. “President Trump promised to put the United States first, and the administration is committed to using each lever of the Executive Power to address this crisis and restore US greatness,” he added. One of Trump’s closest advisors at the White House, Stephen Miller, also attacked the social network X. “The judicial coup is out of control,” he said.
“Illegal abuse”
The Democratic leader of the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, Gregory W. Meeks, on the contrary, in a statement, that the decision confirms that “these tariffs constitute an illegal abuse of the Executive Power.” The Court issued a sentence after two lawsuits filed in recent weeks: one for an alliance of twelve states, including Arizona, Oregon, New York and Minnesota, and the other by a group of US companies.
Trump cited the IEEPA to argue that commercial deficits and the threat of drug entry in the United States justify the generalized imposition of tariffs. The White House has 10 days to stop tariffs. The Department of Justice has defended Trump’s commercial strategy before the courts. He estimates that the Judiciary has a very limited authority over its actions.
Since his arrival to power in January, Trump has put world trade up and agitated financial markets with an intermittent deployment of taxes aimed at punishing economies that sell more to the United States than they buy. The highest suspended them to leave the negotiation with the governments or blocks of countries such as the European Union.