On May 29, 2025, the International Trade Court of New York ruled that President Trump has no power to impose the tariffs announced on Liberation Day.
Plaintiffs were a New York-based wine importer and four other small businesses. Another case was filed by New York, and 11 other states, challenging tariffs imposed by Trump on Canada and Mexico to stop illicit drugs and illegal immigrations from coming into the US.
The federal court stated that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 did not allow the president to issue the tariffs. According to the President the levies were decided among a national emergency caused by the US trade deficit. Given that the trade deficit would be a threat to US economy, the President claimed the power to decide by himself. Conversely, the I.T.C. ruled that Congress cannot delegate “unbounded tariff power” to the president without violating the Constitution. Also, trade deficit would not fit the law’s definition of an unusual and extraordinary threat.
The decision hit the tariffs Trump levied in April on almost every trading partner of US. The stock market relieved after knowing about the decision. Furthermore, the verdict was released while global trade talks are on and growing confusion is registered among interlocutors.
Some tariffs are not hit by the ruling. National security tariffs, as the ones on steel and aluminum, semiconductors, lumber, are issued under a different law.