New York: The Trump administration has requested a U.S. appeals court to pause a second judicial decision that found former President Donald Trump exceeded his authority in imposing sweeping tariffs on imports. Officials argue the latest ruling could significantly undermine ongoing international trade negotiations.
This appeal comes in the wake of two back-to-back court defeats. On May 28, the U.S. Court of International Trade in Manhattan declared the tariffs unlawful. The following day, a federal court in Washington, D.C., issued a similar ruling, stating the tariffs violated the president’s powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) — a law meant to respond to “unusual and extraordinary” threats during national emergencies.
Both lawsuits challenged Trump’s use of IEEPA to justify what became known as the “Liberation Day” tariffs — broad import taxes introduced in early April affecting most U.S. trading partners. The lawsuits also targeted an earlier set of tariffs placed in February on China, Mexico, and Canada. The administration claimed those nations were contributing to the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., an accusation all three countries deny.
The Trump administration has already secured a temporary pause on the first court decision, allowing it to resume imposing the tariffs while the appeal process continues. A decision on whether to grant a longer-term pause is expected later this month.
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The second ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, had a narrower immediate effect — it only blocked the government from collecting tariffs from the two small businesses that brought the case: Learning Resources Inc. and hand2mind, both educational toy manufacturers. However, the D.C. ruling went further in its legal interpretation, stating more explicitly that IEEPA does not grant authority to impose tariffs, a conclusion that could severely restrict Trump’s ability to use tariff threats as leverage in future trade talks.
“A blunt ruling that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs undercuts Trump’s ability to use tariffs as a ‘credible threat’ in trade talks”, the Department of Justice wrote in its emergency motion to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
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Ahead of Judge Contreras’s May 29 decision, four senior Trump officials — including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Lee Greer — submitted sworn statements warning that halting the tariffs would threaten U.S. national and economic security. They emphasized that ongoing negotiations with dozens of nations were at a “delicate” stage.
The plaintiffs, Learning Resources Inc. and hand2mind, have indicated they will oppose the administration’s attempt to pause the lower court’s ruling, maintaining their stance that the tariffs were unlawfully imposed
