US federal court blocks Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs | World News
A Manhattan-based federal court in the United States has blocked President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs from getting implemented. The court ruled that the president overstepped his authority imposing across the board taxes on imports from nations that sell more to America than they purchase from it.
The Court of International Trade, in its judgment stated, that the US Constitution gives exclusive powers to the US Congress to regulate commerce with other countries that are not governed the president’s emergency powers to safeguard the US economy.ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO
The verdict the three-judge bench comes after lawsuits argued that President Trump had exceeded his authority, made US trade policies dependent on his whims and unleashed economic chaos, Associated Press reported.
BREAKING: A federal court has determined that Pres. Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs, dealing a sweeping blow to the president’s main weapon in his ongoing global trade war. https://t.co/lZwn2S2KDX
— ABC News (@ABC) May 28, 2025
The Trump adminration argued that courts had approved emergency use of tariffs in 1971 then-President Richard Nixon, and that the Congress has the authority to determine the “political” question of whether the president’s rationale for declaring an emergency complies with the law and not the courts.
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Tariffs must typically be approved the Congress, but Trump said he has the power to act as the country’s trade deficits amount to a national emergency.
The Republican leader declared a national emergency to implement the April 2 “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs on all the trading partners of the United States. The Trump adminration had cited a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to ratify his legal authority over the tariffs.
The lawsuit, which the Trump adminration lost in the Manhattan court, is the one of seven court challenges to tariff policies, along with challenges from 13 US states and other groups of small businesses.
Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs had sent shock waves throughout the financial markets of the world, with stock markets tumbling and investor wealth pouring out. The tariff decision made several economs downgrade the outlook for US economic growth.
