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Washington : The ambitious trade agenda of the Trump administration has encountered a fresh legal hurdle as a federal court on Thursday declared the 10 per cent blanket tariffs unlawful, marking a significant defeat for the President’s cornerstone economic strategy, CNN reported.
In a split 2-1 decision, a judicial panel at the US Court of International Trade determined that the government failed to provide adequate legal grounds to implement the levies under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. This particular set of tariffs was introduced as a replacement after a Supreme Court intervention earlier this year struck down an even more extensive series of duties.
According to CNN, the court’s directive requires the administration to immediately halt the collection of these duties from the plaintiffs involved in the case and to issue refunds for previous payments. While the ruling currently only shields the specific companies that brought the lawsuit, it represents a profound blow to the administration’s ability to unilaterally reshape trade through executive action.
Under the provisions of Section 122, a president may impose tariffs of up to 15 per cent across all import categories without the consent of Congress, provided specific criteria are satisfied. However, the judges found the administration’s justification for the current move to be lacking. The majority ruling pointedly observed that the presidential proclamation “identifies no ‘large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits’ as Congress understood that phrase.”
CNN noted that while the legal victory is significant for the litigants, the tariffs will remain active for all other importers through July. Currently, the administration’s primary remaining trade tools are industry-specific levies, though officials have already initiated procedures to potentially roll out an alternative set of nationwide tariffs.
Reacting to the judicial setback on Thursday night, President Donald Trump remained defiant, suggesting he would circumvent the ruling. “Nothing surprises me with the courts,” Trump told reporters. “Nothing surprises me, so we always do it a different way. We get one ruling, and we do it a different way.”
The ongoing legal battles underscore the atmosphere of “chaos and uncertainty” surrounding the administration’s economic direction. Following the Supreme Court’s February decision that a broad portion of the initial tariffs were illegal, the President pivoted to these now-disputed global duties, relying on the then-untested authority of the 1974 Act.
As reported by CNN, the landscape for businesses remains volatile. Although importers are now eligible to seek refunds for payments made under the tariffs previously invalidated by the Supreme Court, the reimbursement process is expected to be slow and tiered. Furthermore, the timeline for the full opening of the refund system remains murky, and payments could face additional delays if the administration introduces new measures that alter the calculation of these returns.
