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The U.S. federal court of appeals gave Donald Trump’s global tariff plan a temporary reprieve on Thursday, suspending a ruling that found his “liberation date” taxation was illegal.
In Thursday’s ruling, the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay “until further notice.”
The stay comes hours after the White House vowed to go to the Supreme Court Wednesday night to overturn a judicial decision that Trump could not use emergency economic forces to charge cleaning fees on trading partners.
“This is a huge victory for the president,” Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said in an interview with Fox News. “The Trump incident is covered in iron. …The bottom line is that President Trump’s trade team is looking to the horizon.”
The latest decision shows a small legal victory for the Trump administration, but it remains in balance the long-term fate of its global tariff regime. The US can continue to collect customs duties during your stay.
On Wednesday, the US International Trade Court’s shocking ruling hit the president’s tariff plans, eliciting a backlash from the White House, accusing the judge of “a judicial overreach.”
“Three judges on the U.S. International Trade Court have abused their jurisdiction to rob President Trump’s authority and stopped the American people from carrying out the mandate they gave him,” White House Press Officer Carolyn Leavitt said Thursday.
“In the end, the Supreme Court must put an end to this for our constitution and our nation.”
Another ruling by a Washington district court judge also gave the administration to a 14-day appeal, although the tariff scheme proved to be “illegal.”
Trump’s top trade and economic advisers argue that there are other ways the president can pursue his global trade war, and that negotiations for deals with other countries will continue.
“I think we have a strong case. Yes, we’ll be appealing and continuing to ruling,” Peter Navarro, the lead architect of Trump’s trade war, told Bloomberg Thursday morning.
He said the Trade Court’s ruling said the administration could use a variety of legal foundations to impose 10% tariffs and a higher “mutual” obligation on many countries.
“So, in that sense, nothing really changed here.
Wall Street analysts suggested that the court’s ruling would slow down but would not derail the White House plans. US stocks rose after the decision, but the rally eased, with both the S&P 500 index and the high-tech Nasdaq composite getting up 0.4%.
“The administration is likely to successfully appeal the ruling or use other powers… to keep tariff charges high and to keep revenues significantly,” City analyst wrote in a memo Thursday. “For now, this ruling is complicated and could delay trade negotiations.”
Goldman Sachs President John Waldron said at a meeting in New York on Thursday that the US government is hoping to increase tariffs in most countries.
“I think we’re going to go towards a 10% universal baseline tariff with individual target tariffs in individual countries,” he said.
Hassett also argued that the Trump administration could push forward that plan.
“We’re right, so Trump always wins these negotiations. We’re in the midst of America being mistreated by other governments, tariffs are taking them to the table, they’re coming in with big concessions, opening up markets for our products and lowering tariffs,” he said.
He added that there are “different approaches” that the administration can take to impose tariffs if necessary, but that “we are not going to pursue them now because we are sure this is really wrong.”
Additional Reports by Joe Miller of Washington and Martin Arnold of New York
