Trump DOJ Seeks to Freeze Court Ruling Against 10 Percent Tariffs

(MENAFN) The Trump administration has asked a federal trade court to suspend a ruling that declared President Donald Trump's sweeping 10% global tariffs unlawful, seeking to keep the levies in place while the government mounts its legal challenge.

The move would allow the United States to continue collecting the contested tariffs from importers as the courtroom battle plays out. Last week, a divided 2-1 panel of the US Court of International Trade ruled that Trump's invocation of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose the tariffs was legally invalid.

The court's order immediately halted enforcement only for the two companies and Washington state that originally filed the case — but the Justice Department cautioned that thousands of importers currently paying the tariffs could file similar claims if the ruling gains broader effect.

Government lawyers argued that allowing the decision to stand would "severely undermine" Trump's trade agenda and drain resources from an ongoing effort to refund a prior round of global tariffs struck down by the US Supreme Court earlier this year.

The administration has since escalated the fight, appealing the ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Justice Department further warned that if both the trade court and the appeals court decline to pause the ruling, the administration stands ready to seek emergency relief directly from the Supreme Court.

At the heart of the dispute is Trump's use of Section 122, which permits temporary import restrictions under specific balance-of-payments conditions. The trade court rejected the administration's broad interpretation of "balance-of-payments deficits," finding that Trump's proclamation relied on trade and current account deficits rather than the specific type of deficits required under the 1974 law.

The 10% tariffs, which took effect in February and are set to expire in July, have already generated an enormous paper trail. More than 170,000 importers have paid deposits covering Section 122 tariffs across 13 million entries of goods since the proclamation took effect, according to government figures. US customs authorities collected roughly $8 billion in Section 122 tariffs in March alone, according to government data analyzed by We Pay the Tariffs, a coalition of small businesses.

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