The clash between presidential power and congressional authority just escalated dramatically.
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit delivered a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs, ruling 7–4 that he had overstepped his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The decision is as consequential as it is controversial. For decades, presidents have leaned on IEEPA for targeted sanctions against rogue regimes, terrorists, and foreign threats. But never before had the statute been stretched to cover the kind of across-the-board tariffs Trump announced as part of his “Liberation Day” initiative.
The court made that point emphatically: “The invocation of IEEPA to impose tariffs on nearly every country in the world is undoubtedly a significant departure from these previous invocations.”
The judges reminded the administration of a basic constitutional truth: while the president holds considerable authority in foreign affairs and national security, the power to tax and regulate commerce lies with Congress. In short, tariffs are taxes — and the Constitution doesn’t permit them to be conjured unilaterally by executive decree.
The stakes are enormous. If the ruling stands, the United States could be on the hook for billions in refunded duties collected under Trump’s tariff regime. It would unravel tariffs imposed on China, Canada, Mexico, and dozens of other nations — tariffs that were central to Trump’s leverage in trade negotiations and his strategy to curb unfair practices abroad.
The ruling won’t take effect immediately. Implementation has been delayed until October 14, giving the Trump administration a window to appeal to the Supreme Court.
But the practical effect of the decision is to throw America’s trade policy into sudden uncertainty, at precisely the moment Trump has been working to reassert U.S. economic dominance on the global stage.
Trump, unsurprisingly, blasted the court in a fiery Truth Social post, calling it a “Highly Partisan Appeals Court” that had made an “incorrectly decided case.” He warned in stark terms: “It would be a total disaster for the Country if my tariffs were canceled. If allowed to stand, this Decision would literally destroy the United States of America.”
