Key takeout
The White House appealed the decision Wednesday night and was able to use several other legal measures to reimpose customs duties.
In the meantime, court orders could deepen uncertainty about trade policy and affect trade negotiations with countries seeking to avoid high tariffs on products.
The federal court dealt with the campaign to impose tariffs on President Donald Trump’s trading partners, but the trade war is not over, executive officials and trade experts said Thursday.
On Wednesday night, the US International Trade Court defeated many of Trump’s foreign trade tariffs. The court gave the Trump administration 10 days to stop the collection of tariffs. In the meantime, the administration is hoping to overturn the ruling and overturn it.
important
Since the article was published, federal courts have granted the Trump administration’s request to revive tariffs until a decision to appeal is reached.
For more information about the latest updates to the case, please see here.
The judge’s ruling was a barrier to Trump’s trade agenda, but it cannot be stopped completely. This order places some major duties on certain products, including cars and metals. And White House officials and outside experts say the administration has multiple options to impose more tariffs through other legal paths.
“Interestingly, the courts basically said we were right and just use different rules and laws,” Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro said Thursday. “So nothing has changed here.”
Trump has other options to impose tariffs
Kevin Hassett, chairman of the National Economic Council, said the administration is confident that the court’s decision will be overturned by appeal and has yet to plan to impose tariffs from other legal paths.
“There are three or four other ways we have to do that,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday. “We are very sure this verdict is wrong, so we are not going to pursue them now.”
Experts at Goldman Sachs have identified at least three other ways that Trump could impose tariffs outside the 1977 Emergency Economic Power Act, and outside the Emergency Economic Power Act that Trump used to tax the “liberation date.” These include laws that allow up to 15% customs duties over a maximum of 150 days. A 1930 law that has never been tested. and the authorities that allow tariffs after an investigation into unfair trade practices by foreign countries that could take weeks or months.
The award may not stop tariffs, but introduces more uncertainty
In the meantime, the court’s ruling could deepen the uncertainty surrounding US trade policies and affect the administration’s negotiations with foreign countries.
The administration says many countries are currently in talks with the White House and are avoiding higher “liberation date” tariffs to avoid higher “liberation date” tariffs than July, which will be suspended in some July tariffs.
“The Trump administration still has other mechanisms that allow tariffs to be imposed, but these have limits on the amounts that could be imposed. “This undermines Trump’s preferred method of negotiation: abandon the big threat and retreat once concessions are reached.”
Tracy Shuchart, senior economist at Ninjatrader, said the ruling would have little impact on negotiations. However, he said it will be difficult to judge the outcome of the trade war until the country begins to sign detailed agreements.
“In the end, the country wants to do some kind of deal with the US,” Schchard said.
Updated, May 29, 2025: This article has been updated and contains comments and appeal information from Tracy Shuchart.
