WORLD
US court scraps Mr Trump’s tariffs as illegal, keeps them in place till October 14
- IBJ Bureau
- Aug 31, 2025
A divided US appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal, undercutting the Republican president’s use of the levies as a key international economic policy tool.
The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place through October 14 to give the Trump administration a chance to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court.
The decision comes as a legal fight over the independence of the Federal Reserve also seems bound for the Supreme Court, setting up an unprecedented legal showdown this year over Mr Trump’s entire economic policy.
Mr Trump has made tariffs a pillar of US foreign policy in his second term, using them to exert political pressure and renegotiate trade deals with countries that export goods to the US.
The tariffs have given the Trump administration leverage to extract economic concessions from trading partners but have also increased volatility in financial markets.
Mr Trump lamented the decision by what he called a “highly partisan” court, posting on the Truth Social: “If these tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the country.”
He nonetheless predicted a reversal, saying that he expected tariffs to benefit the country “with the help of the Supreme Court”.
The 7-4 decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC addressed the legality of what Mr Trump calls “reciprocal” tariffs imposed as a part of his trade war in April, as well as a separate set of tariffs imposed in February against China, Canada and Mexico.
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