A federal court blocked Trump's decision to impose reciprocal tariffs

A federal court blocked the trade tariffs known as "Liberation Day tariffs" promoted by President Donald Trump, considering that he had exceeded his constitutional powers.

The decision was made by a panel of three judges from the United States Court of International Trade, located in Manhattan, who ruled against the Trump administration, stating that only Congress has the authority to regulate international trade and impose taxes and tariffs.

The case was brought by the Liberty Justice Center, a nonpartisan organization, on behalf of five small businesses affected by the tariffs.

These companies imported products from countries included in the list of nations impacted by the new tariffs, which covered the majority of countries worldwide.

The plaintiffs argued that Trump could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 as justification for imposing these tariffs so broadly.

Trump had defended these measures by claiming that they were necessary to offset the trade deficits that the United States had accumulated over decades.

He had also maintained that the tariffs were a tool to pressure countries such as China, Canada, and Mexico to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking into U.S. territory.

As part of his April 2 announcement, Trump established customized tariffs for dozens of countries, along with a base tariff of 10% applicable to all imports, within his plan called "Liberation Day."

However, the court considered that the IEEPA doesn't grant the president such broad power. In its ruling, the court recalled that the United States Constitution assigns exclusively to Congress the authority to establish taxes, duties, and tariffs, as well as to regulate commerce with foreign nations.

In the court's opinion, the IEEPA was created for specific national emergency situations and can't be used to "impose tariffs broadly without limit or legislative control."

Meanwhile, the White House argued that it was a political issue, so it should be decided by Congress and not by the courts. Nevertheless, the court was clear in stating that it doesn't interpret the IEEPA as an unrestricted delegation of powers to the president and therefore annulled the tariffs established under that law.

This case is one of seven legal challenges brought against Trump's tariff policy, which has also been the subject of lawsuits by 13 states and several coalitions of small businesses.