Court in Washington to hear arguments on legality of Trump ‘reciprocal' tariffs
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will hear arguments on Thursday in Washington on whether the tariffs can survive legal scrutiny.
The lawsuit, V.O.S. Selections v. Trump, challenges Trump's claim he can unilaterally impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, arguing he overstepped his authority by bypassing Congress.
IEEPA gives the president power to regulate economic activity during a national emergency. No president before Trump has used the statute to justify tariffs.
The case consolidates two lawsuits: one filed by 12 states led by Oregon, the other by five small American businesses. The lead plaintiff, V.O.S. Selections, is a New York-based wine importer. In addition to Oregon, states named as plaintiffs include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.
The legal challenge also targets Trump's February decision to impose 20 per cent to 25 per cent fentanyl-related tariffs on imports from China, Mexico and Canada.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
33 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Trump tariff threats loom over China's Russian oil purchases, following his move on India
Even in the face of threats by US President Donald Trump to levy tariffs on countries that import Russian goods, analysts expect that China 'will not stop' buying oil from its northern neighbour, given their mutually beneficial relationship of energy cooperation. Oil from Russia will continue to flow south over the long run because 'China's strategic goals require a stable and secure supply of critical resources such as oil', said Matt Gertken, chief geopolitical strategist at BCA Research in Canada. His comments came with Trump sharpening his threat of sanctions on Russia if it fails to engage in a ceasefire in Ukraine, where Moscow has waged war for the last three and a half years. Previously, both the United States and the European Union announced blanket sanctions on Russia, and they also tried to cut off its lifelines by threatening secondary sanctions on those helping it. 'The US said at the time that it would implement those [tariff] threats by August 7-9 if trade with Russia was not curtailed by then, and affirmed that China would be a target,' Gertken added. 'The US has already taken action on India, so China is next in line.' Russia is China's top source of crude imports, supplying a record high 108.5 million tonnes, or 19.6 per cent of its total imports, last year. Guo Jiakun, spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference last week that 'China will take energy supply measures … based on national interests', while 'tariff wars have no winners'.
AllAfrica
2 hours ago
- AllAfrica
Is Trump really winning his trade war?
Last week, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order updating the 'reciprocal' tariff rates that had been paused since April. Nearly all US trading partners are now staring down tariffs of between 10% and 50%. After a range of baseline and sector-specific tariffs came into effect earlier this year, many economists had predicted economic chaos. So far, the inflationary impact has been less than many predicted. However, there are worrying signs that could all soon change, as economic pain flows through to the US consumer. Trump's latest adjustments weren't random acts of economic warfare. They revealed a hierarchy, and a pattern has emerged. Countries running goods trade deficits with the US (that is, buying more than they sell to the US), which also have security relationships with the US, get 10%. This includes Australia. Japan and South Korea, which both have security relationships with the US, were hit with 15% tariffs, likely due to their large trade surpluses with the US. But the rest of Asia? That's where Trump is really turning the screws. Asian nations now face average tariffs of 22.1%. Countries that negotiated with Trump, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines, all got 19%, the 'discount rate' for Asian countries willing to make concessions. India faces a 25% rate, plus potential penalties for trading with Russia. Students from an art school in Mumbai, India, created posters in response to Trump's latest tariff announcement. Photo: SOPA Images / Getty via The Conversation In the current trade war, it is unsurprising that, despite threats to do so, no countries have actually imposed retaliatory tariffs on US products, with the exception of China and Canada. Doing so would drive up their consumer prices, reduce economic activity, and invite Trump to escalate, possibly limiting access to the lucrative US market. Instead, nations that negotiated 'deals' with the Trump administration have essentially accepted elevated reciprocal tariff rates to maintain a measure of access to the US market. For many of these countries, this was despite making major concessions, such as dropping their own tariffs on US exports, promising to reform certain domestic regulations, and purchasing various US goods. Protests over the weekend, including in India and South Korea, suggested many of these tariff negotiations were not popular. Even the European Union has struck a deal accepting US tariff rates that once would have seemed unthinkable – 15%. Trump's confusing Russia-Ukraine war strategy has worried European leaders. Rather than risk US strategic withdrawal, they appear to have simply folded on tariffs. Some deals are still pending. Notably, Taiwan, which received a higher reciprocal tariff (20%) than Japan and South Korea, claims it is still negotiating. Through the narrow prism of deal-making, it is hard not to escape the conclusion that Trump has gotten his way with everyone – except China and Canada. He has imposed elevated US tariffs on many countries, but also negotiated to secure increased export market access for US firms and promised purchases of planes, agriculture and energy. Imposing tariffs on goods coming into the US effectively creates a tax on US consumers and manufacturers. It drives up the prices of both finished goods (products) and intermediate goods (components) used in manufacturing. Yet the Yale Budget Lab estimates the tariffs will cause consumer prices to rise by 1.8% this year. This muted inflationary impact is likely a result of exports to the US being 'front-loaded' before the tariffs took effect. Many US importers rushed to stockpile goods in the country ahead of the deadline. It may also reflect some companies choosing to 'eat the tariffs' by not passing the full cost to their customers, hoping they can ride things out until Trump 'chickens out' and the tariffs are removed or reduced. Despite Trump's repeated claims that tariffs are a tax paid by foreign countries, research consistently shows that US companies and consumers bear the tariff burden. Already this year, General Motors reported that tariffs cost it US$1.1 billion in the second quarter of 2025. A new 50% tariff on semi-finished copper products took effect on August 1. That announcement in July sent copper prices soaring by 13% in a single day. This affects everything from electrical wiring to plumbing, with costs ultimately passed to US consumers. The average US tariff rate now sits at 18.3%, the highest level since 1934. This represents a staggering increase from just 2.4% when Trump took office in January. This trade-weighted average means that, on typical imported goods, Americans will pay nearly one-fifth more in taxes. Earlier this year, many companies raced to bring inventory to the US before tariffs were imposed. Photo: Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty via The Conversation The US Federal Reserve is concerned about these potential price impacts, and last week opted to maintain interest rates at their current levels, despite Trump's pressure on Chairman Jerome Powell. And on August 1, economic data released in the US showed significant slowing in job creation, some worrying signs in economic growth, and early signs of business investment paralysis due to the economic uncertainty unleashed by Trump's ever-changing tariff rates. Trump responded to the report by firing the US Bureau of Labour Statistics commissioner, a shock move that led to widespread concerns that official US data could soon become politicized. But the worst economic impacts could still be yet to come. The domestic consequences of Trump's tariff policies are likely to amount to a massive economic own goal. Peter Draper is professor and executive director, Institute for International Trade, and director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Trade and Environment, University of Adelaide and Nathan Howard Gray is senior research Fellow, Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
‘China is next in line': after India, Trump tariff threats loom over Russian oil purchases
Even in the face of threats by US President Donald Trump to levy tariffs on countries that import Russian goods, analysts expect that China 'will not stop' buying oil from its northern neighbour, given their mutually beneficial relationship of energy cooperation. Advertisement Oil from Russia will continue to flow south over the long run because 'China's strategic goals require a stable and secure supply of critical resources such as oil', said Matt Gertken, chief geopolitical strategist at BCA Research in Canada. His comments came with Trump sharpening his threat of sanctions on Russia if it fails to engage in a ceasefire in Ukraine, where Moscow has waged war for the last three and a half years. Previously, both the United States and the European Union announced blanket sanctions on Russia, and they also tried to cut off its lifelines by threatening secondary sanctions on those helping it. 'The US said at the time that it would implement those [tariff] threats by August 7-9 if trade with Russia was not curtailed by then, and affirmed that China would be a target,' Gertken added. 'The US has already taken action on India, so China is next in line.' Advertisement Russia is China's top source of crude imports, supplying a record high 108.5 million tonnes, or 19.6 per cent of its total imports, last year. Guo Jiakun, spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference last week that 'China will take energy supply measures … based on national interests', while 'tariff wars have no winners'.
