Challenge to Trump Tariffs 'Uncharted Territory' for Courts: Peisch

Greta Peisch, former general counsel for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, says she expects the Trump administration to press ahead with the president's trade and tariff policy despite the ruling by the Court of International Trade.

The US Court of International Trade has blocked the vast majority of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, dealing a blow to a key pillar of his economic agenda.

A panel of three judges unanimously ruled on May 28 that the bulk of the new import taxes were issued illegally, concluding that Trump wrongfully invoked an emergency law to justify the levies. It’s a rare rebuke as the courts tend to defer to the president on trade matters.

The decision is one of the biggest legal setbacks for the Trump administration amid a wave of lawsuits over executive orders that test the limits of presidential authority. The verdict could also test the power of the courts to enforce their rulings if the executive branch chooses to defy the judges’ orders.

The ruling issued by the New York-based trade court permanently blocks the duties in question unless an appeals court allows Trump to reinstate them during litigation. The government has been given 10 days to complete the bureaucratic process of unwinding the tariffs.

The Justice Department immediately filed a notice of appeal and has asked the trade court to delay its ruling while the challenge proceeds. The trade court ordered plaintiffs to respond to the request by May 30 at noon. As the case works its way through the legal system, the fate of the tariffs hanging over trillions of dollars of global trade could ultimately lie in the hands of the Supreme Court.

“It is critical, for the country’s national security and the president’s conduct of ongoing, delicate diplomatic efforts, that the court stay its judgment,” the administration said. “The harm to the conduct of foreign affairs from the relief ordered by the court could not be greater.”

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