Mark Schiefelbein/AP
A federal appeals court on Friday invalidated vast portions of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, ruling that the president lacked the authority to invoke an emergency law to unleash tariffs on nearly all goods from nearly every country importing to the United States.
The ruling, which upholds a lower court’s opinion, concluded that Trump unlawfully stretched the 1977 statute, also known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, to impose the import tariffs. “A wafer-thin reed on which to rest such sweeping power,” is how judges described Trump’s argument that declarations of national emergencies establish the power to enact such wide-ranging taxes.
Though a scathing rebuke to Trump’s global agenda, it’s unclear how much of Friday’s ruling would affect Trump’s tariffs in more practical terms. It doesn’t go into effect until October, providing ample time for the White House to appeal to the Supreme Court. Till then, Trump’s tariffs and the chaos they sow remain.
“ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT!” Trump blared on social media. “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. If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country.”
Meanwhile, warning signs throughout the economy abound: Trump’s extraordinary attacks on the Federal Reserve are mounting; tourism to the United States has sharply declined; US growth is about to hit a wall; and global alliances are getting wrecked.
