Less than 24 hours after the Court of International Trade (CIT) invalidated President Donald Trump’s retaliatory duties on more than 90 countries, the administration has been granted a stay on that decision by a federal appeals court.
The Washington-based United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday ruled in favor of temporarily preserving the president’s tariff orders as it reviews the details of the cases brought my multiple plaintiffs—including American businesses and attorneys general from states from coast to coast—as well as the CIT’s ruling.
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The federal judicial panel on trade had ruled on the plaintiffs’ behalf, saying that the president overstepped his authority in attempting to impose widespread duties using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
On the heels of the CIT’s Wednesday decision, which both baffled trading partners and buoyed markets, the Trump administration filed for a stay pending appeal and an immediate administrative stay, calling the injunction “unprecedented and legally indefensible.”
According to the defendants-appellants, including President Trump, U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, Acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Pete R. Flores and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, the so-called reciprocal duties, which were announced on April 2, are “central to the President’s foreign-policy and economic agendas” and the ruling to stop them “unilaterally disarms the United States in the face of the longstanding predatory trade practices of other countries.”
If the appeals court denied the request, the administration said it planned to seek “emergency relief” from the Supreme Court on Friday.
That didn’t happen, though. And for now, Trump’s controversial tariff scheme remains in place, with a start date for the potential duties a little over a month away. The appeals court moved to consolidate the appeals from the CIT ruling and to immediately pause the CIT’s order that the administration find a way to unwind the tariffs over the course of the next 10 days.
The plaintiffs, including the state attorneys general and businesses, have one week to respond to the administration’s stay request. The court said it would offer an answer to their response by June 9.
Liberty Justice Center lawyer Jeffrey Schwab, who represents the business plaintiffs, believes the appeals court’s decision is “merely a procedural step as the court considers the government’s request for a longer stay pending appeal.”
“We are confident the Federal Circuit will ultimately deny the government’s motion shortly thereafter, recognizing the irreparable harm these tariffs inflict on our clients,” he said in a statement.
But the complaints—and court wins—are stacking up against the president and his aggressive tariff regime.
Earlier Thursday, another federal court, based in Illinois, ruled on behalf of two corporate plaintiffs in a case against Trump. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras handed down a decision that the administration could not collect tariffs from two Illinois toy importers, Learning Resources and Hand2Mind, while the case against the president is litigated. The ruling’s impact was paused for two weeks, giving the government time to appeal the decision.
The companies, which employ about 500 people across Illinois, California and New York, argued in their suit that the tariffs represent a “crushing burden” that is “felt most immediately and acutely by this country’s small and mid-size businesses.”
In light of these developments, the president appears to have made the rare decision to step away from the keyboard and refrain from commenting on any of the courts’ decisions. Instead, he has opted to communicate his stance in a veiled manner using several memes, including a photoshopped picture of a billboard proclaiming, “PRESIDENT TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING.”
