In its appeal filed on Wednesday, the Trump administration told the high court that the case “addresses the validity” of the government’s “most significant economic and foreign-policy initiative”.
“The stakes in this case could not be higher,” the petition said, noting that Trump and his cabinet official had “determined that the tariffs are promoting peace and unprecedented economic prosperity”.
It added that “the denial of tariff authority would expose our nation to trade retaliation without effective defences and thrust America back to the brink of economic catastrophe”.
In a ruling on August 30, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in a 7-4 decision, declared that Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on nearly all US trading partners, including “reciprocal” tariffs and fentanyl-related levies on Canada, Mexico and China, exceeded his authority.
The court argued that the power to impose tariffs lies primarily with Congress, as outlined in the US Constitution, and that the IEEPA does not explicitly grant the president the authority to impose such broad trade measures.
