Kathmandu. A US federal court on Wednesday blocked Donald Trump’s sweeping import duties from taking effect. The court stayed the move, saying the president had exceeded his authority with global customs duties.
The opinion is a significant blow to President Trump, who is trying to reshape U.S. trade relations with the world by bringing governments to the negotiating table through tough new tariffs. Trump’s global trade war has rocked financial markets, which have implemented a freeze-start implementation of customs duties aimed at punishing economies that buy less than they sell to the US.
Trump argued that the resulting trade deficit and the threat posed by drug inflows had created a “national emergency” that justified sweeping customs duties. But the three-judge International Trade Court has effectively called for a ceasefire, abandoning most of the sanctions announced by the president since taking office in January. The White House criticised the ruling, arguing that “unelected judges” have no right to weigh the way Trump’s case is handled.
“President Trump promised to put America first, and the administration is committed to making every use of executive power to address this crisis and restore American greatness,” Trump spokesman Kush Desai said. Lawyers for the Trump administration were quick to appeal Wednesday’s ruling. Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s closest White House aides, was less diplomatic because he denounced a “judicial coup” on social media that he said was “out of control”.
Trump announced sweeping import duties on most trading partners on April 2. This includes a basic 10 percent, as well as higher customs duties in dozens of economies, including China and the European Union (EU). The ruling also struck down separate customs duties imposed on Canada, Mexico and China using emergency powers. The turmoil calmed after he halted large customs duties for 90 days and suspended other customs duties awaiting talks with individual countries and groups.
South Korea’s central bank on Thursday cut its benchmark interest rate and lowered its growth forecast, citing “uncertainty” related to trump’s threat of tariffs.
Arguing that the president violated congressional budget rights, the Federal Business Court was ruling on two separate cases brought by a coalition of businesses and state governments. “The main question in the two cases before the court is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 delegates these powers to the president as the right to impose unlimited customs duties on goods coming from almost all countries of the world,” the three-judge panel wrote in an unsigned opinion. ”
The court, which decides civil cases arising out of trade disputes, said that any interpretation of the IEEP as per the court documents is unconstitutional to “represent the Unlimited Customs Authority”. The IEPA empowered the president to impose necessary economic sanctions to “combat an unusual and extraordinary threat” during an emergency, the bench said. The ruling gave the White House 10 days to complete the bureaucratic process to stop taxes. Gregory W. Mix, a top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the ruling “confirms that these customs duties are an illegal abuse of executive power.” “Trump’s fake declaration of national emergency to justify his global trade war was a meaningless and illegal use of the IEE,” he said.
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