President Donald Trump’s heftiest tariffs cleared a court hurdle for now, after a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that they could take effect while legal challenges play out. But the appeals court put the tariff cases on a fast track for a resolution this summer.
The decision came after the Trump administration appealed the Court of International Trade’s ruling finding the president exceeded his authority to impose country-wide tariffs claiming a national emergency.
“Both sides have made substantial arguments on the merits. Having considered the traditional stay factors… the court concludes a stay is warranted under the circumstances,” according to the ruling.
The stay is pending the course of the appeal, the court wrote, adding that the case will be heard on a sped-up basis by the full panel of judges at the court.
“The court also concludes that these cases present issues of exceptional importance warranting expedited en banc consideration of the merits in the first instance,” the order said.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs said the decision was “unfortunate” but that the expedited review could hopefully yield a permanent answer soon.
“All I can say is the court’s decision is unfortunate,” wrote Ilya Somin, a law professor at Scalia Law School, George Mason University and plaintiff lawyer, in an email to CNN. “The Federal Circuit also indicated in its ruling today that there will be expedited consideration of the case, and we hope to get a ruling on the merits faster than usual.”
But the White House called the stay “a welcome development.”
“The Trump administration is legally using the powers granted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to address our country’s national emergencies of persistent goods trade deficits and drug trafficking,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “The US Circuit Court of Appeals’ stay order is a welcome development, and we look forward to ultimately prevailing in court.”
The appeals court ruling, however, has no bearing on the sector-wide tariffs Trump previously enacted, including those on aluminum, steel, cars and car parts.
That’s because he imposed those levies under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act – a different law than the one Trump cited for his broader trade actions. Section 232 gives a president significant power to levy tariffs on specific sectors if they believe there is a national security threat risk.
That’s just one of the levers the administration can continue to use regardless of how the case ultimately plays out.
A handful of other laws give the president the ability to levy higher tariffs, albeit in a more limited way than under a law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
Trump has attempted to use that law to pass along “reciprocal” tariffs, a 10% universal tariff and import taxes on Mexico, Canada and China over their alleged roles in enabling illegal migration and fentanyl to flow into the US.
Barring any more new import taxes, without the IEEPA-related levies, the nation’s effective tariff rate on goods would decline from 13-14% to 5%, JPMorgan economists estimated in May note to clients.
That’s still around double that of 2024 levels, however.
The latest order does little to give businesses certainty about the future. Trump has imposed, paused, hiked and lowered tariffs at a dizzying rate since re-taking office, leaving businesses and consumers alike scrambling to figure out what products brought into the country will cost in the coming weeks and months.
Trump has called for those businesses to bring production into the United States to avoid tariffs. But that process takes time and money – often into the years and millions or billions of dollars.
This story has been updated with additional context and developments.
CNN’s Samantha Delouya and Samantha Waldenberg contributed reporting.
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