The sweeping federal court order blocking Trump’s tariffs, explained: If this decision stands on appeal, it’s a big loss for Trump that will make it difficult for his trade war to continue. (Ian Millhiser, May 28, 2025, Vox)
The trade court’s first significant holding is that, although a federal appeals court has held that this power to “regulate” foreign transactions sometimes permits the president to impose tariffs, this statute cannot be read to give Trump “unlimited tariff authority.” That is, the IEEPA does not give Trump the power he claims to impose tariffs of any amount, upon any nation, for any duration.Significantly, the trade court, based in New York City, concludes that the statute cannot be read to give Trump unchecked authority over tariffs because, if Congress had intended to give Trump that power, then the statute would violate the Constitution’s separation of powers because Congress cannot simply give away its full authority over tariffs to the president.
Among other things, the court points to a line of Supreme Court decisions establishing that Congress may only delegate authority to the president if it lays “down by legislative act an intelligible principle to which the person or body authorized to fix such [tariff] rates is directed to conform.” So, if the president’s authority over tariffs is as broad as Trump claims, the statute is unconstitutional because it does not provide sufficient instructions on when or how that authority may be used.