By Molly Claire Goddard
2:51am PDT, May 30, 2025
_
The courts are continuing to keep
Donald Trump from wielding ultimate power.
On Wednesday, May 28, a three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade in New York City blocked a portion of the Republican leader's
slew of tariffs and claimed he took his presidential authority too far by putting the taxes in place.
Keep reading to learn why the legal authorities shot down Trump's global duties…
MORE:
Follow Wonderwall on MSN for more top news
_
The court ruled that Donald Trump breached his power as the sitting president by citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose the duties. The legal body noted that Congress is usually responsible for issuing
tariffs.
"The President's assertion of tariff-making authority in the instant case, unbounded as it is by any limitation in duration or scope, exceeds any tariff authority delegated to the President under IEEPA," the judges explained in their ruling. "The Worldwide and Retaliatory tariffs are thus ultra vires and contrary to law."
_
On Thursday, May 29, a second federal court in Washington, D.C., shot down Donald Trump's emergency tariffs.
"The International Economic Emergency Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose the tariffs set forth," D.C. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras made clear in a decision ordering a preliminary injunction on the tariffs the two plaintiffs who brought the case cited.
_
On April 2 — which Donald Trump labeled "Liberation Day" — the businessman imposed a 10% baseline tariff rate against almost every country. Later, Trump and his administration tacked on customized rates for certain places around the globe.
The Apprentice alum went the hardest on
Canada, China and Mexico. The right-wing administration inflicted a 25% additional tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports as well as a 10% additional tax on Chinese goods.
_
White House spokesperson Kush Desai spoke out against the court's rulings and claimed that America needs to keep the tariffs in place to balance the current trade deficits.
Donald Trump's staffer called the deficits a national emergency "that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base — facts that the court did not dispute."
"It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency," Desai added.
