On Friday, a federal appeals court issued a 7-4 ruling stating that former President Donald Trump overstepped his authority when he implemented tariffs against nearly all countries. The Washington D.C. court found that while U.S. law does grant the president significant powers in response to national emergencies, it does not permit the imposition of tariffs or taxes.
This decision pertains to tariffs introduced by Trump on April 2, which he termed “liberation day.” These tariffs applied a baseline rate of 10% across the majority of U.S. trading partners and included notably high tariffs, such as a 50% tariff on Lesotho and a 10% tariff on uninhabited islands populated only by wildlife. The court deemed these measures as “unbounded in scope, amount, and duration,” asserting that they exceed the intended limits of the law utilized for their enactment.
Typically, tariffs require Congress’s approval, but Trump claimed his authority to impose them under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which allows regulation of international transactions during a national emergency. The court expressed skepticism about whether Congress intended to provide the president with unlimited tariff authority through this law.
Although the ruling generally supports a previous federal trade court decision declaring Trump’s tariffs illegal, it delayed the implementation of the ruling until October 14, allowing the Trump administration time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
If the Supreme Court ultimately determines that Trump’s tariffs were illegal, the government has warned that it may have to refund significant revenue collected from these tariffs, potentially impacting the U.S. treasury. Furthermore, the ruling may limit Trump’s ability to impose tariffs moving forward, as alternative legal options for tariffs are more restricted.
In response, Trump criticized the court’s ruling as partisan and suggested that striking down the tariffs would have catastrophic effects on the country and its workers.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/30/trump-tariffs-explainer