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TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (Jun25/01) Geneva, 30 May (D. Ravi Kanth) — In a rapidly evolving development concerning United States President Donald Trump’s allegedly unilateral reciprocal tariffs, a federal appeals court on 29 May temporarily stayed the ruling issued by the US Court of International Trade that found that President Trump’s invoking of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs is illegal and unconstitutional. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington said that it was pausing the 29 May decision by the Court of International Trade until it can hear further legal arguments, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on 29 May. “The order, known as an administrative stay, wasn’t a ruling on the merits of the litigation, as administrative stays are common in emergency appeals,” the WSJ suggested. The Trump administration appears to have upped the ante in fighting against the ruling issued by the New York- based Court of International Trade – which had pronounced that the proposed reciprocal tariffs and a 10% basic tariff on imported goods entering the US market are illegal and unconstitutional – vowing to press ahead with the ongoing negotiations with various countries regardless of the ruling. “The administration has already filed an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal and an immediate administrative stay to strike down this egregious decision. But ultimately, the Supreme Court must put an end to this for the sake of our Constitution and our country,” White House spokesperson, Ms Karoline Claire Leavitt, told reporters at the Oval Office on 29 May. Meanwhile, in an emergency motion, the Justice Department asked the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to stay the 29 May ruling from the Court of International Trade while it pursues an appeal. “This Court should immediately stay that judgment, which is rife with legal error and upends President Trump’s efforts to eliminate our exploding trade deficit and reorient the global economy on an equal footing,” the Justice Department said. “Absent at least interim relief from this Court, the United States plans to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court tomorrow to avoid the irreparable national security and economic harms at stake,” the Justice Department added. “The president’s rationale for imposing these powerful tariffs was legally sound and grounded in common sense,” Ms Leavitt told reporters on 29 May. According to the White House spokesperson, President Trump already spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister on pressing ahead with the ongoing bilateral negotiations, while the US Commerce Secretary, Mr Howard Lutnick, and the US Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Jamieson Greer, respectively spoke to several countries informing them that the discussions on reciprocal tariffs will continue uninterrupted despite the trade court’s ruling. Justifying President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” trade policy, which is aimed at building a robust manufacturing based on “secure critical supply chains,” the spokesperson said the “three judges of the US Court of International Trade disagreed and brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump to stop him from carrying out the mandate that the American people gave him.” “These judges failed to acknowledge that the President of the United States has core foreign affairs powers and authority given to him by Congress to protect the United States economy and national security,” she said. Further, “Congress had created the National Emergency Act to provide the congressional framework to strike down improper IEEPA [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] use and any questions over whether President Trump improperly imposed these IEEPA tariffs were already adjudicated in Congress following Liberation Day,” Ms Leavitt maintained. She said, “Congress firmly rejected an effort led by Senator Rand Paul and Democrats to terminate the President’s reciprocal tariffs,” arguing that “the courts should have no role here.” “There is a troubling and dangerous trend of unelected judges inserting themselves into the presidential decision- making process,” the spokesperson insisted. Moreover, “America cannot function if President Trump, or any other president, for that matter, has their sensitive diplomatic or trade negotiations railroaded by activist judges,” Ms Leavitt said. She insisted that “President Trump is in the process of re-balancing America’s trading agreements with the entire world, bringing tens of billions of dollars in tariff revenues to our country and finally ending the United States of America from being ripped off.” Inveighing against the ruling issued by the three judges of the Court of International Trade, the White House spokesperson said, “These judges are threatening to undermine the credibility of the United States on the world stage.” “And as [I was] on my way out here to the briefing room,” she said, “I understand that there was another district court judge right here in Washington, DC who ruled against the President’s tariff power.” Ms Leavitt insisted that “these are not just talking points, these are real judges in the court of law who are trying to block the President’s power and the policies that he was elected to enact.” She gave several examples of how courts were allegedly trying to undermine President Trump’s actions and decisions. She said: “For example, a court ordered the Trump administration to return already deported terrorist aliens back to the United States. A court has ruled the Trump administration can’t even temporarily pause our refugee programs. Courts prohibited the Trump administration from eliminating federal funding for child transgender surgery and mutilation, a practice that the American people overwhelmingly reject. A court also held that the Trump administration could not ban people experiencing gender dysphoria or mental health issues from serving in the military. Ridiculous. Courts prohibited the removal of transgender women from women’s prisons despite potential physical harm to real women in those prisons, biological women.” However, she said the administration will comply “with the court’s orders” but that it is “going to fight them in court.” The spokesperson expressed confidence that the administration will “win on the merits of these cases, because we know we are acting within the President’s legal and executive authorities.” She said, “Other countries around the world have faith in the negotiator-in-chief, President Donald J. Trump, and they also probably see how ridiculous this ruling is and they understand that the administration is going to win and we intend to win.” Informing reporters that the administration has already filed an emergency appeal, she said, “We expect to fight this battle all the way to the Supreme Court.” “These other countries should also know and they do know that the President reserves other tariff authorities, Section 232, for example, to ensure that America’s interests are being restored around the world,” the spokesperson said. “But I can confirm that our ambassador for trade, Jamieson Greer, already heard from countries around the world this morning,” she said, adding that “they intend to continue with these negotiations.” Pointing out that the US trade deficit in January totalled a whopping $131.4 billion, Ms Leavitt said: “So, people on both sides of the aisle, pundits, lawyers, legal scholars, politicians have all agreed that it [trade deficit] is a national emergency, our trade deficits, and our lack of critical supply chains here at home.” +
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