A US federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs in the first legal test of Trump’s “liberation day tariffs.” The ruling comes days before US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick tables a probe into lumber imports, which could see large numbers of timber products hit with tariffs under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
Today, the US Court of International Trade ruled that an emergency law invoked by the White House does not give the president unilateral authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country. The Manhattan-based court ruled the US Constitution gives Congress exclusive powers to regulate commerce with other nations and that this is not superseded by the president’s remit to safeguard the economy.
In addition, it also blocked a separate set of levies the Trump administration imposed on China, Mexico and Canada since returning to the White House in response to what it said was the unacceptable flow of drugs and illegal immigrants into the US.
“It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,” White House deputy press secretary 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,” Desai said.
The lawsuit, filed by the nonpartisan Liberty Justice Center on behalf of five small businesses that import goods from countries targeted by the duties, is the first major legal challenge to Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs. The case is one of seven legal challenges to the administration’s trade policies, along with challenges from 13 US states and other groups of small businesses.
In the ruling, a three-judge panel said the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law that Trump cited to justify the tariffs, does not give him the power to impose the sweeping them: “The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs. The Trafficking Tariffs fail because they do not deal with the threats outlined in those orders,” they said in a joint ruling.
For now, the vast majority of timber products sidestepped tariffs.
In April, Wood Central reported that most timber products—including rough and surfaced lumber, plywood, MDF, and other wood-based panels—were exempt from Trump’s ‘liberation reciprocal tariffs.’ However, these products—along with automobiles, pharmaceutical goods, and semiconductors—are subject to the 90-day national security investigation into lumber that started on March 3.
According to Margules Groom Consulting – an international consulting company that specialises in the forest industry, all products identified in the 44 codes good will be subject to a National Security probe (s232) being run by the US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick: “Our analysis is that this is more of a matter of concern. As we understand, the Trump administration sees these products as part of product groups they wish to permanently bring back to the US and will be subject to special (= higher duties) moving forward.”
As it stands, the United States Department of Defence uses huge volumes of international timbers—including Shorea and Apitong — in military floorboards, tanks, and vehicles, while the US Army and Navy are increasingly toying with advanced forms of cross-laminated timber to build the next generation of installations.
- To learn more about Trump’s tariffs, and why the world’s largest tissue manufacturer is now investing back into US manufacturing of pulp and paper, click here for more information.
