He United States Court of International Trade this Thursday blocked the imposition of a 10% global tariff on most importsconsidering that the president Donald Trump “incorrectly” invoked a decades-old trade law to apply these taxes.
The court found that Trump improperly used old trade legislation by imposing the tariffs last February, shortly after another package of similar measures was annulled by the Supreme Court.
According to the ruling of the Commercial Court, which is based in New York, The Executive exceeded the limits of the regulations by generally applying a tariff to products from practically all countries.
However, the future of the litigation remains opengiven that the Government had already planned that the global tariff would function as a temporary measure aimed at gaining time while other legal bases were explored to impose longer-lasting tariffs.
The 10% tariff has been applied since February 24 under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, with a validity of 150 days, so expires next July 23. After this it can only be extended by Congress.
According to The New York Times, the Trump Administration is expected to appeal the ruling, which could prolong the conflict. Nevertheless, A definitive defeat would force the Executive to return the revenue collected under those tariffs.a figure that is around 166 billion dollarsaccording to estimates.
Following the Supreme Court’s previous overturning of tariff measures, the Administration turned to a little-used provision of the 1974 Trade Act known as section 122.
However, the Commercial Court emphasizes that this provision only allows the temporary imposition of limited tariffsin specific circumstances linked to serious imbalances in the balance of payments or situations of instability in the international financial system.
The ruling also recalls that this rule allows liens of up to 15% for a maximum of 150 daysafter which its continuity depends on authorization from Congress.
