Federal appeals court deems Trump tariffs unconstitutional

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Friday that President Donald Trump did not have the legal authority to impose global tariffs earlier this year. He did so by declaring a national emergency over trade policies, which triggered a portion of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to allow him to impose tariffs without congressional approval. The Friday ruling upholds an earlier decision from the Court of International Trade that said Trump’s reasoning for declaring an emergency was invalid.

What now? The appeals court gave the Trump administration until Oct. 14 to remove the tariffs or to appeal to the Supreme Court. It tossed out a section of the Court of International Trade ruling that would have revoked the tariffs immediately. The Treasury Department has reported the new tariffs have created roughly $30 billion in revenue so far in the month of August, though the rollout has been complicated. Trump delayed imposing baseline tariffs several times and the White House has been individually negotiating new deals with more than 90 countries. In a statement on Truth Social, Trump called the appeals court partisan and said removing the tariffs would be a disaster for the country.

Dig deeper: Read my report on how Trump’s tariffs plan sparked concerns in the Senate, as well as bipartisan legislation to block him from doing so in the future.