A court in New York City has made a decision against the tariffs that Donald Trump introduced. This is another loss for the Trump administration’s trade policy.
The court had three judges. They made a decision by a vote of 2 to 1. They said that the Trump administration’s tariffs of 10% on things from around the world were not allowed and that the president did not have the power to do this.
Some small businesses took the administration to court because they thought the tariffs were not fair. The judges agreed with them. Said that the tariffs were “not valid” and “not allowed by law”. They said that Donald Trump did not have the power to introduce these tariffs under the law that he used.
The tariffs were introduced under a law from 1974. This was after the administration had already lost a case in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said that the administration could not introduce tariffs under a law that allows the president to act in an emergency.
This new decision means that the government cannot collect tariffs from the three companies that took the case to court. These companies are the state of Washington, a spice company called Burlap & Barrel, and a toy company called Basic Fun!.
Lawyers think that this decision will encourage companies to ask for their money back or to take the administration to court. A trade lawyer named Dave Townsend said that this decision could lead to companies taking action against the tariffs.
The Trump administration will probably appeal this decision to a court in Washington. This case could even go to the Supreme Court again.
This decision shows that there is still a lot of disagreement about how much power the president should have over trade. The Constitution says that Congress has the power to decide on taxes and tariffs, but over time, Congress has given some of this power to the president.
Even though the Trump administration has lost some cases, they are still trying to find ways to change trade policies. They are investigating some countries, including China, the European Union and Japan, to see if they are doing things that are not fair. They are also looking into some imports that are made using forced labour.
