Appeals court skeptical of Trump tariff authority [View all]
A federal appeals court appeared skeptical Thursday of arguments from a Justice Department lawyer defending President Donald Trump’s global tariff regime.
Trump has claimed he has the power to impose a vast array of new tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
His use of that statute — which does not mention the word tariffs — is the first time since it became law in 1977 that it has been invoked by a president to impose tariffs on imports from other countries.
Plaintiffs in the case say the IEEPA contains no such tariff-setting authority for a president, and argue that Trump has usurped the power of Congress to set tariffs since he regained the White House in January.
The arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit were livestreamed on the court’s Youtube page.
“When we look at the statute [IEEPA] ... we see foreign exchange, payments, currency” mentioned when the law gives a president power to regulate or prohibit those, one judge on the appeals panel noted to Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate.
“And there’s an old expression in the law, ‘noscitur a sociis’: ‘you know it by its friends,’ ” the judge said. “Tariffs seems to have no friends in that statute. So, why?”
The last court to hear the case, the U.S. Court of International Trade, struck down both Trump’s reciprocal and “trafficking”-related tariffs in late May.
But the Federal Circuit Appeals Court quickly paused that decision, keeping Trump’s tariffs in effect while the legal challenge plays out.
The appeals court is not expected to rule Thursday in the case, V.O.S. Selections v. Trump.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/31/trump-trade-tariffs-lawsuit-hearing.html
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