Removing US tariffs would ‘kneecap’ president amid China trade talks: Trump team in court

The Donald Trump administration defended its controversial tariffs before a trade court in New York on Wednesday, arguing that striking down the levies would “completely kneecap” the US president amid the country’s trade talks with China.

It was the second time in a week that the Court of International Trade heard a lawsuit challenging whether Trump’s use of a “national emergency” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was legally justified to support the tariffs.

The IEEPA is a 1977 law allowing a US president to impose economic measures during a national emergency to address an “unusual and extraordinary threat”.

Wednesday’s lawsuit before a three-judge panel, led by the state of Oregon and joined by 11 other states, had a broader scope than the previous legal challenge before the court brought by a group of small businesses.

The states contested not only Trump’s “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2 but also the 20 per cent tariffs he ordered in February on China, Mexico and Canada over fentanyl production and trafficking. Both cited the IEEPA as justification.

The Trump administration cited fentanyl precursors, pictured here, as a basis for ordering higher tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada this year. Photo: Reuters

The Trump administration argued that the president’s emergency declarations were not subject to judicial review because the matter is a “political question” and only the US Congress could intervene.

South China Morning Post