A court in the United States on Wednesday blocked tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on imports into the country under a law that gives him extraordinary powers in emergency situations, reported Reuters.

The New York-based Court of International Trade said that the country’s Constitution gave Congress exclusive authority to regulate international commerce, and that the president’s emergency powers did not override this.

“The court does not pass upon the wisdom or likely effectiveness of the president's use of tariffs as leverage,” a three-judge panel was quoted as saying by Reuters. “That use is impermissible not because it is unwise or ineffective, but because [federal law] does not allow it.”

The court passed an injunction blocking all of Trump’s tariff-related orders under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The ruling, however, does not halt the tariffs that the president imposed using his powers under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, reported the Associated Press. Among the tariff measures imposed under this law were a 25% tax imposed on most imported automobiles and on all foreign-made steel and aluminium.

On April 2, the United States announced “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries, including a 26% “discounted” levy on India. Trump had repeatedly said he intended to impose a reciprocal tax on India, among others, citing the high tariffs the countries impose on foreign goods.

On April 9, the so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed by the US on several countries took effect. Hours after, however, Trump reduced the tariff rates on imports from most countries to 10% for 90 days to provide time for trade negotiations. However, Washington had increased tariffs on China to 125% at the time.

The US president had cited the “lack of respect” Beijing had shown to the global markets for further increasing tariffs on imports from China.

On May 12, however, the two countries agreed to suspend tariffs on each other’s goods for 90 days. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the two countries had agreed that tariffs would come down by more than 100 percentage points to 10%.

In response to Wednesday’s order, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that US trade deficits amounted to a national emergency, reported the Associated Press. He said that the deficits decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base – facts that the court did not dispute.”

Desai said the government remains committed to “using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness”.

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