The U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday eveningstruck downPresident Donald Trump's use of emergency executive powers to impose tariffs on nearly all imports. The ruling includes an injunction that immediately blocks the collection of tariffs Trump imposed under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977. The Trump administration had used that lawas the legal basis for tariffsimposed in February on imports from Canada, China, and Mexico, then used it again as the basis for the so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs announced on April 2 and applying to nearly all American imports. The court ruled that Trump had overstepped the authority granted by IEEPA, which had never previously been invoked to impose tariffs. "The court holds…that IEEPA does not authorize any of the Worldwide, Retaliatory, or Trafficking Tariff Orders," a three-judge panel on the courtwrote. Those orders, the judges wrote, "exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs." "The challenged Tariff Orders will be vacated and their operation permanentlyenjoined," they concluded. The ruling combines two cases that challenged the legal authority of Trump's tariffs. One of those cases wasbrought by the Liberty Justice Centeron behalf of several American businesses that depend on imported goods. (Reasoninterviewedone of the plaintiffs in the case shortly after it was filed in April.) The other wasfiled by several state attorneys general. The court's ruling is a sweeping one that covers all imports. "There is no question here of narrowly tailored relief," the three judges wrote in their ruling. "If the challenged Tariff Orders are unlawful as to Plaintiffs they are unlawful as to all." The ruling is a welcome blow to the Trump administration'sfreewheeling use of IEEPAin ways that seemingly ignored the plain text of the law—which authorizes executive actiononly in responseto "unusual and extraordinary" threats to the United States. Ordinary imports to the country do not meet that standard, the plaintiffs argued in the case. Additionally, the plaintiffs argued that Congress could not constitutionally delegate such sweeping tariff powers to the executive branch. In its ruling on Wednesday, the Court of International Trade seemed to agree on both points. "We do not read IEEPA to delegate an unbounded tariff authority to the President," the judges wrote. "We instead read IEEPA's provisions to impose meaningful limits on any such authority it confers." The Trump administration will almost certainly appeal the ruling and request a stay of the injunction on the tariffs. It's impossible to say how those things will turn out. For now, however, this is a huge win for free trade—and, perhaps more importantly, Wednesday's ruling is a win for the rule of law and the separation of powers. The postA Federal Court Just Blocked Trump's Tariffsappeared first onReason.com.
