(Altoona Mirror)—President Donald Trump is waging a trade war without getting approval from Congress: He declared a national emergency to slap import taxes — tariffs — on almost every country on earth.
The president is now facing at least seven lawsuits that argue he’s gone too far and asserted power he does not have.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade, which deals specifically with civil lawsuits involving international trade law, held the first hearing on the challenges Tuesday morning in New York. Five small businesses are asking the court to block the sweeping import taxes that Trump announced April 2 — “Liberation Day,” he called it.
Declaring that the United States’ huge and long-running trade deficits add up to a national emergency, Trump invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEPPA) and rolled out 10% tariffs on many countries. He imposed higher — up to 50% — “reciprocal” tariffs on countries that sold more goods to the United States than the U.S. sold them. (Trump later suspended those higher tariffs for 90 days.)
Trump’s tariffs rattled global markets and raised fears that they would disrupt commerce and slow U.S. and global economic growth.
Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel and director of litigation at the nonprofit Liberty Justice Center, said the president is exceeding the act’s authority. “That statute doesn’t actually say anything about giving the president the power to tariff,” said Schwab, who is representing the small businesses. “It doesn’t say the word tariff.”