Court blocks Trump tariffs

AFP | Washington

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A US federal court blocked most of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, boosting markets yesterday with a ruling that could derail his trade strategy.

The opinion marks a significant setback to Trump as he bids to redraw the US trading relationship with the world by forcing governments to the negotiating table through tough new tariffs.

Trump’s global trade war has roiled financial markets with a stop-start rollout of import levies aimed at punishing economies that sell more to the United States than they buy.

Trump argued that the resulting trade deficits and the threat posed by the influx of drugs constituted a “national emergency” that justified widespread tariffs.

But the three-judge Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday that Trump had overstepped his authority, and barred most of the duties announced since he took office in January.

Attorneys for the Trump administration promptly filed an appeal against the ruling, which gave the White House 10 days to complete the bureaucratic process of halting the tariffs.

“It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

“President Trump pledged to put America first, and the administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American greatness,” Desai said.

The ruling comes as Trump was using the tariffs as leverage in trade negotiations with friends and foes, including the European Union and China.

Beijing -- which was hit by 145 percent tariffs before they were sharply reduced to give space for negotiations -- reacted to the court ruling by saying the United States should scrap the levies.