US President Donald Trump can keep his import taxes in place for now, an appeal court has ruled.
It comes just one day after a trade ruling found Trump had overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to declare a national emergency and justify the sweeping tariffs.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has permitted the president to temporarily maintain tariff collections under emergency legislation as it reviews the government's appeal.
A decision handed down Wednesday by a lesser-known trade court in New York would nullify tariffs President Trump imposed in February on products from China, Mexico, and Canada—tariffs he claimed were necessary to address fentanyl smuggling. It would also dismiss a 10 percent import tax on goods from countries across the world, as well as higher so-called reciprocal tariffs on trade partners, including the EU and China.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump said the ruling was a "horrible, Country threatening decision," and said he hopes the Supreme Court would reverse it "QUICKLY and DECISIVELY".
Trump called into question the appointment of the three judges and suggested the ruling was based on "purely a hatred of 'TRUMP'," adding: "Backroom 'hustlers' must not be allowed to destroy our Nation!
“The horrific decision stated that I would have to get the approval of Congress for these Tariffs. In other words, hundreds of politicians would sit around D.C. for weeks, and even months, trying to come to a conclusion as to what to charge other Countries that are treating us unfairly.
"If allowed to stand, this would completely destroy Presidential Power -- The Presidency would never be the same!"
In its appeal, the Trump administration said the decision made by the trade court a day earlier had improperly second-guessed the president and put months of painstaking negotiations in jeopardy.
"The political branches, not courts, make foreign policy and chart economic policy," it said in the filing.
Shortly before the appeal court’s temporary reprieve, Karoline Levitt told a press hearing: "America cannot function if President Trump, or any other president, for that matter, has their sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations railroaded by activist judges."
The tariffs overturned decades of US trade policy, disrupted global commerce, rattled financial markets and raised the risk of higher prices and recession in the United States and around the world.
The US Court of International Trade has jurisdiction over civil cases involving trade. Its decisions can be appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington and ultimately to the Supreme Court.
On April 2, Trump imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs of up to 50% on countries with which the United States runs a trade deficit and 10% baseline tariffs on almost everybody else.
He later suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries time to agree to reduce barriers to US exports. But he kept the baseline tariffs in place.
The trade court ruling marked the first legal challenge to the tariffs and related to a case brought on behalf of five small businesses that import goods from other countries.
