Updated May 28, 2025 at 10:07 PM EDT
A federal court on Wednesday struck down many of the tariffs Trump imposed this term, including sweeping worldwide tariffs that unsettled consumers and sent stock markets plummeting.
The judgment from the Court of International trade rules the tariffs Trump imposed on April 2 on most countries are illegal. Trump already moved to temporarily scale those tariffs back to 10 percent. The ruling also strikes down separate tariffs Trump imposed on China, Canada, and Mexico, which the administration justified as a reaction to fentanyl trafficking.
In their ruling, the court's three-judge panel wrote that Trump's worldwide tariffs had exceeded his power under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA, which the Trump administration cited in imposing those tariffs.
"Because of the Constitution's express allocation of the tariff power to Congress…we do not read IEEPA to delegate an unbounded tariff authority to the President," the court wrote.
The White House responded by rejecting the court's authority.
"It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. "President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness."
He did not answer directly when asked if the administration planned to appeal the ruling.
IEEPA, the law at the heart of the case, had never been used to impose tariffs until President Trump did so. As the name suggests, the law gives a president broad economic powers during a national emergency.
The judgment came in a case brought against the administration by 12 states and five businesses.
While the court found Trump had exceeded his authority by imposing broad worldwide tariff, the three-judge panel made a different argument in ruling against the fentanyl tariffs.
In that case, the court found that the president's argument – that the tariffs will create leverage to get other countries to crack down on drug trade – invalidates the tariffs. Under IEEPA, the judges wrote, a tariff must directly "deal with" the emergency a president cites when imposing the tariff. The fentanyl tariffs do not directly address the drug trade, the judges wrote, but instead merely attempt to create economic pressure within other countries.
The three judges were appointed by three separate presidents: Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and Trump himself.
In a statement, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield – one of the state attorneys general who brought the case – celebrated the ruling.
"The court's ruling is a victory not just for Oregon, but for working families, small businesses, and everyday Americans," he said. "President Trump's sweeping tariffs were unlawful, reckless, and economically devastating."
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