The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has decided to temporarily permit President Trump to maintain his tariffs on China and other trading partners, extending a pause that was granted after a different panel of judges ruled in late May that the import taxes were not legally justified. This decision provides an interim success for the Trump administration, which contended that interrupting the tariffs might weaken the president’s bargaining position in global negotiations.
Despite this victory, the Trump administration still needs to persuade the judges that the president properly utilized a set of emergency powers to implement the central aspect of his economic policy agenda. The administration has already indicated its readiness to take this battle to the Supreme Court.
This ruling follows an agreement between U.S. and Chinese negotiators on a framework aimed at extending a trade truce. The Trump administration had cautioned that these talks, along with other discussions, could be endangered if the appeals court didn’t grant a complete stay as arguments continued.
Central to the legal dispute is Mr. Trump’s unique use of a 1970s law to wage a worldwide trade conflict. No previous president had ever invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs, a fact not even mentioned in the legislation. The Trump administration has relied on this law to impose significant taxes on most global imports, seeking to generate income, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and secure more favorable trade deals with other countries.
In April, a group of small businesses and a coalition of states filed lawsuits against the Trump administration in the U.S. Court of International Trade, claiming financial hardship due to the president’s unlawful actions. The trade court concurred, concluding that Mr. Trump had considerably exceeded the limits of the emergency powers law. Late last month, the judges mandated the White House to suspend many of its tariffs, including those on China, Canada, and Mexico. However, the Trump administration promptly appealed, and the appeals court initially provided the government with a brief stay, allowing the president’s tariffs to persist while they considered a longer-term stay.
On Tuesday, the court extended this stay, enabling it to assess the legal arguments at the heart of the case and the scope of Mr. Trump’s claimed authority over trade.
Jeffrey Schwab, a senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center representing the small businesses that sued the administration, expressed disappointment with the temporary approval of the tariffs. He stated that courts examining the lawfulness of the tariffs have concluded they are not permissible, adding that he is optimistic that this court will also recognize that IEEPA does not grant the president the power to impose arbitrary taxes.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/business/economy/trump-tariffs-court.html
