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Many people assumed that Trump’s tariffs were illegal, and for the first time, a court has confirmed that Trump did not have the emergency authority to impose tariffs based on his whims, and the court ruled that the tariffs are blocked, and potentially, the money that has been collected must be returned.
The Constitution assigns Congress the exclusive powers to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,” and to “regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cls. 1, 3. The question in the two cases before the court is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (“IEEPA”) delegates these powers to the President in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world. The court does not read IEEPA to confer such unbounded authority and sets aside the challenged tariffs imposed thereunder.
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The court holds for the foregoing reasons that IEEPA does not authorize any of the Worldwide, Retaliatory, or Trafficking Tariff Orders. The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs. The Trafficking Tariffs fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders. This conclusion entitles Plaintiffs to judgment as a matter of law; as the court further finds no genuine dispute as to any material fact, summary judgment will enter against the United States.
See USCIT R. 56. The challenged Tariff Orders will be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined.
There is no ambiguity in the court’s decision. Trump’s actions are illegal, and the tariffs are toast.
Below, a state Attorney General explains what it means.