US President Donald Trump.
Credit: Reuters file photo
US President Donald Trump on Friday said the ruling by a US. Appeals Court that most of his tariffs were not legal was "incorrect", adding that all tariffs were still in effect.
"ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The ruling, from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, affirmed a lower court’s initial finding that Trump did not possess unlimited authority to impose taxes on nearly all U.S. imports. But the appellate judges delayed the enforcement of their order until mid-October, allowing the administration time to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
While the tariffs remain in place, for now, the adverse ruling still cast doubt over the centerpiece of Trump’s trade strategy and the tariffs that the president has imposed to raise revenue and broker favorable trade deals globally.
The president has warned that any erosion in his tariff powers could carry grave consequences. Trump, who has said his tariffs will make America “rich” through new sources of revenue, has even invoked the specter of the Great Depression if his ability to impose levies is curtailed.
“Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed,” Trump wrote on social media. “If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country.”
The Trump administration has no guarantee of success at the Supreme Court, where the president’s claims to vast tariff powers may face an uphill fight. Many leading conservative and libertarian lawyers and scholars have said the president’s duties were issued illegally.
At the heart of the fight is the extent to which Trump may invoke a decades-old economic emergency law to issue harsh tariffs on the nation’s foremost trading partners. The law does not mention tariffs, but the president has seized on the statute anyway, aiming to remake U.S. trade relationships and raise billions of dollars in revenue without having to obtain congressional support.
The law, known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, is central to Trump’s trade strategy. Without it, he would be limited in the duties he could apply, and the duration that they could be imposed.
The court ruling does not affect the specific rates that the president has applied to foreign vehicles, steel and other goods, which Trump imposed under a separate law that allows him to tax imports on national security grounds.