By Brett Rowland | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – An appeals court ruled late Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs can remain in place while a legal challenge over his authority to impose import taxes continues.
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Trump administration’s request for a longer pause after temporarily staying the lower court’s ruling in May.
Trump called it an “important win.”
“A Federal Appeals Court has just ruled that the United States can use TARIFFS to protect itself against other countries,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Wednesday morning. “A great and important win for the U.S.”
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said a stay was allowed.
“Both sides have made substantial arguments on the merits,” according to the ruling. “Having considered the traditional stay factors … the court concludes a stay is warranted under the circumstances.”
On Monday, the Trump administration asked an appeals court to let the president’s tariffs remain in place while the court considered the legal challenges, saying that lifting them would “catastrophically harm our economy.”
The administration appealed after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade unanimously ruled that Congress did not give the president tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.
The Court of International Trade gave Trump 10 days to unwind all the tariffs he issued under IEEPA. The appeals court granted the administration’s request for a stay, putting the Court of International Trade ruling on hold while the appeal moves forward.
Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners on April 2, which he dubbed “Liberation Day” for American trade. Seven days later, Trump suspended those higher rates for 90 days to give his trade team time to cut deals.
Since then, the president has announced a limited trade deal with the United Kingdom and a tariff truce with China while talks continue. Trump kept other tariffs, including a 10% baseline tax on all imports, in place.
A group of states and small businesses that challenged Trump’s tariff authority previously asked an appeals court to dump Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs while legal challenges play out. The companies, represented by the Liberty Justice Center, said their livelihood is on the line.
Economists, businesses and some publicly traded companies have warned that tariffs could raise prices on a wide range of consumer products.
Trump has said he wants to use tariffs to restore manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past, shift the tax burden away from U.S. families, and pay down the national debt.
A tariff is a tax on imported goods paid by the person or company that imports the goods. The importer can absorb the cost of the tariffs or try to pass the cost on to consumers through higher prices.
