Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Pauses Rulings on Trump Tariffs, Allowing Them to Continue — For Now

Federal appeals court temporarily pauses rulings on Trump tariffs, allowing them to continue — for now

A federal appeals court has temporarily paused rulings by a panel of judges that halted several of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on international trading partners. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a brief ruling stating that the “judgments and the permanent injunctions entered by the Court of International Trade in these cases are temporarily stayed until further notice.”

The decision pauses the lower court’s decision until at least June 9, when both sides will have submitted legal arguments about whether the case should remain paused while the appeal proceeds. Jeffrey Schwab of the Liberty Justice Center, an attorney for the plaintiffs, stated that the ruling is “merely a procedural step as the court considers the government’s request for a longer stay pending appeal.” He expressed confidence that the Federal Circuit will ultimately deny the government’s motion.

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, described the ruling as “a big victory for the president.” Peter Navarro, the White House senior counsel for trade and manufacturing, predicted that the administration would find a way to institute the tariffs even if it’s eventually unsuccessful in this case. He noted that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would lay out how the administration will respond within the next two days.

The judgment from the U.S. Court of International Trade, which typically hears cases involving tariff classifications, import transactions, and customs law issues, found that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) did not “delegate an unbounded tariff authority to the President.” A panel of three judges, appointed by Reagan, Obama, and Trump, made this determination.

Trump described the appeals court’s pause as fortunate and criticized the lower court’s three-judge panel in a Truth Social post. He questioned the judges’ motivations and called for the Supreme Court to reverse the decision. Earlier, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., issued a similar ruling, finding a number of Trump’s tariffs “unlawful.” U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras’ decision affects only a pair of educational toy makers who’d filed suit, arguing the president didn’t have the authority to impose sanctions.

Contreras agreed with the plaintiffs that the IEEPA does not enable the President to unilaterally impose tariffs, noting that no other president has ever used the IEEPA for this purpose. The administration is appealing Contreras’ ruling, arguing that blocking the tariffs would cause significant harm to U.S. foreign policy and national security.