Trump tariffs reinstated as court fight takes another turn
President Donald Trump’s sweeping American tariffs are back on again, with a US court agreeing to pause a ruling from a day earlier that blocked the bulk of the import duties.
The US Court of Appeal on Friday (AEST) temporarily reinstated Trump’s tariffs while his administration pursues its appeal.
It came a day after the Court of International Trade in Manhattan struck down most of Trump’s tariffs, finding he had overstepped his authority.
The Trump administration immediately lodged an appeal. Both parties now have two weeks to respond to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington.
Also on Friday (AEST), however, a second judge ruled against Trump’s tariffs in a separate case involving two toy companies.
US District Judge Rudolph Contreras issued a preliminary injunction, blocking the government from collecting tariffs from two educational toy companies.
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The case involved Illinois-based Learning Resources Inc and hand2mind Inc, which manufacture most of their products in Asia.
The judge ruled that Trump had no authority under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act to enforce the duties.
The latest court decisions have added to the confusion surrounding Trump’s chaotic “emergency” tariffs on imported goods from dozens of nations.
Amid the drama, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration would not be deterred from its tariffs agenda. She accused the courts of “judicial overreach”.
Leavitt said Trump was willing to use “other legal authorities” at its disposal to implement the tariffs.
Tariffs to remain in effect
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The Court of Appeal’s new order provided no opinion or reasoning, but directed the plaintiffs to respond by June 5 and the administration by June 9.
The previous day’s US Court of International Trade had threatened to kill or at least delay the imposition of Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs on most American trading partners.
There were also import levies on goods from Canada, Mexico and China related to his accusation that the three nations aided the flow of fentanyl into the US.
Senior Trump administration officials had said they were undeterred by the trade court’s ruling, saying they expected either to prevail on appeal or use other presidential powers to ensure they go into effect.
The White House also said the ruling had not interfered with any negotiations with top trading partners, which are scheduled in coming days.
A fourth round of talks with Japan is set for Friday in Washington, and a trade negotiating team from India heads to the US next week.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Thursday that he expected some deals to be struck in the next week or two, and that he had been briefed on three that were “about to happen”.
Hassett, speaking outside the White House, declined to identify which countries might be involved.
Financial markets, which have whipsawed wildly in response to every twist and turn in Trump’s chaotic trade war, reacted with cautious optimism to the trade court ruling, though gains in stocks were largely limited by expectations that the ruling faced a potentially lengthy appeals process.
Indeed, analysts said broad uncertainty remained about the future of Trump’s tariffs, which have cost companies more than $US34 billion ($A53 billion) in lost sales and higher costs, according to a Reuters analysis.
Emblematic of that uncertainty, a separate federal court earlier on Thursday had also found Trump overstepped his authority in using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act for what he called “reciprocal” tariffs of at least 10 per cent on goods from most US trading partners and for the separate 25 per cent levies on goods from Canada, Mexico and China related to fentanyl.
That ruling was much narrower, however. The relief order halting the tariffs applied only to the toy company that brought the case.
-with AAP
