MAJOR LAWSUIT CHALLENGES TRUMP'S RIGHT TO IMPOSE TARIFFS

In the U.S. the Congress, not the President controls tariffs.  Yet the Congress and the Media have done nothing while Trump's Tariffs have disrupted the world ...  

(August 1, 2025):  A very important legal case, challenging virtually all of President Trump's tariffs, started yesterday in The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington DC.

According to CBC:  'Most of the tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed on countries around the world face a crucial legal test on Thursday.....   At issue is whether Trump's justifications for the tariffs hold any legal water, given the president has limited powers to levy duties on foreign countries.'   

Yes, please read that last sentence from CBC again....   It says:  'the president has Limited Powers to levy duties (tariffs) on foreign countries.  And yet the Congressional Leadership has allowed him to go way beyond his powers, and they have not fought back.  And the media have largely downplayed the fact that The Congress has control over tariffs. 

According to one of the lawyers presenting the case...  The tariffs amount to a “breathtaking claim to power” not asserted by any president in 200 years, and one with “staggering” consequences.  

The fact is that in the United States, The Congress has authority over tariffs.  And this lawsuit is about The President's right to impose tariffs.  The case going forward today is being brought by twelve states challenging the Liberation Day tariffs and the tariffs on Canada and Mexico   ....  AND a private lawsuit by five small businesses also challenging the Liberation Day Tariffs.  Both lawsuits are being heard now.

Both sets of plaintiffs won their cases at the U.S. Court of International Trade in late May.   That ruling found the president overstepped his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the statute Trump used to impose both sets of tariffs.  That Act does exist, but no president has ever used it to impose tariffs.     And yet even with this court victory in May, the Congressional Leadership has remained virtually silent, and it has allowed Trump to move ahead with the tariff chaos he has been causing.  This would seem to suggest that the Congressional leadership goes along with, and supports, the chaos President Trump has created with his tariff policies.  And we should be asking why the Congressional leadership is doing nothing.   But nobody is asking that fundamentally important question of does Trump have the right to do what he is doing, and why is the Congressional Leadership doing nothing and why are the Corporate Media ignoring the story?  (And NOTE:  this case does not address President Trump's 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from around the world, which he imposed using a different statute.)    

A lawyer for the small businesses says:  "The case is about whether the president has the power to unilaterally impose tariffs on any country he wants, at any rate he wants, at any time he wants, for any reason he wants... Congress ultimately has that power under our constitution, and although Congress can delegate that power to the president, they have not done so."  

A decision in this case is expected by early September. This means any decision is still a long way off, and especially since whichever side loses will no doubt take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court meaning more months of nothing being done to stop the Trump chaos.  But I fully believe the Congressional Leadership could have stopped Trump at the beginning if they had chosen to do so.  Instead they chose to do nothing, and we don't know why.  

Appeals court scrutinizes Trump's emergency tariffs as deadline looms 

Can Trump impose tariffs without Congress? U.S. appeals court skeptical - National | Globalnews.ca 

This is the court case that could kneecap most Trump tariffs | CBC News