“Not an Emergency”: Court Rejects Trump’s Tariff Justification

In a pointed decision, a federal appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s justification for his widespread tariffs, effectively ruling that a trade deficit is “not an emergency” in the context of the law he used. The court declared his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) illegal.
The ruling argues that if a long-standing economic condition like a trade deficit could be declared a national emergency to justify tariffs, it would grant the president virtually unlimited power to bypass Congress on trade. The court concluded this was not what the drafters of the IEEPA intended.
This has immediate and widespread implications for global commerce. The many informal deals reached under the threat of these tariffs are now on unstable footing. The ruling gives other nations a legal basis to challenge the terms they accepted under duress.
The case is now headed for a final showdown at the Supreme Court. It will force the justices to weigh in on a fundamental constitutional question: how much power does the president have to act alone on major policy issues by declaring a crisis? The decision will have ramifications for years to come.