By Mark Gruenberg
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
NEW YORK—In scathing language, a three-judge panel of the Manhattan-based U.S. Court of International Trade ruled President Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs on every import from every foreign country are unconstitutional. The executive orders he issued imposing them were “declared to be invalid” and “contrary to the law.” The ruling is scheduled to take effect in 10 days.
Trump, the judges said, “exceeded his authority” in declaring the sweeping taxes on U.S. importers, which start at 10% on all products and rise steeply when directed at items from China, Mexico, and Canada. They added that Congress, not the president, has ultimate authority over trade.
The court was not asked to rule on the tariffs targeting specific items, in particular cars and steel from Mexico and Canada.
Trade court Judges Gary Katzmann, a Barack Obama appointee, Timothy Reif, whom Trump put on the bench, and Jane Restani, nominated by GOP President Ronald Reagan, were scathing in their ruling. The three did not comment on the economic rationality or policy effectiveness of the tariffs, but they repeatedly declared that Trump violated the Constitution in imposing them in a blanket fashion.
“An unlimited delegation of tariff authority” by Congress to the president “would constitute an improper abdication of legislative power to another branch of government,” the judges wrote.
Melinda St. Louis, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, cheered the decision and called out Trump’s tariffs for what they really are.
“Trump abused sweeping, unstrategic tariffs as part of a corrupt, authoritarian power grab to bully foreign countries and force U.S. companies to bend the knee to him and his billionaire friends,” St. Louis said. “We welcome the court’s decision striking down Trump’s misuse of tariffs.”
Trump justified his tariffs by declaring a “national economic emergency,” using his frequent claim that other nations are “ripping the U.S. off” and “cheating” on international trade. Such arguments run up against the reality that the U.S. is the most dominant economy in the world and coerced other countries into the same free trade agreements Trump critiques as unfair to the U.S…. READ MORE…
