May 29 (UPI) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday temporarily reinstated President Donald Trump’s tariffs while the court sorts out arguments over their legality.
The appellate court temporarily granted the Trump administration’s stay motion, which reinstated the tariffs in a four-page ruling made Thursday afternoon.
Attorneys with the Department of Justice argued the stay is needed to prevent “immediate irreparable harm to United States foreign policy and national security,” ABC News reported.
“It is critical for the country’s national security and the president’s conduct of ongoing, delicate diplomatic efforts that the court stay its judgment,” the DOJ filing says.
“The harm to the conduct of foreign affairs from the relief ordered by the court could not be greater,” the attorneys argued.
Tariffs give the president leverage while negotiating trade agreements with other nations, the DOJ said.
Eliminating the tariffs would endanger existing trade deals and make the nation vulnerable to nations whose leaders would be emboldened by the court order, the DOJ argued.
“It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told media.
The Trump administration will use “every lever of executive power to address this crisis” of trade deficits with other nations, Desai added.
The appellate court also granted the administration’s motion to combine two separate lawsuits filed by business entities and 12 states that are challenging Trump’s ability to impose tariffs without congressional approval.
The stay temporarily blocks an earlier ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade, which ruled against theTrump administration and permanently enjoined “certain executive orders imposing various tariffs.”
The Washington, D.C.-based appellate court ordered all parties in the combined case to respond to the Trump administration’s stay motion no later than June 5.
The Trump administration also has until June 9 to respond to the motion to combine the two federal cases.
A three-judge panel in the New York-based federal Court of International Trade on Wednesday ruled the Trump administration’s tariffs were “contrary to law” and ended them.
The judges said the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not grant unlimited powers to the president to impose tariffs.
Trump announced the tariffs during an April 2 “Liberation Day” event at the White House.
