Trump admin appeals trade court's block on 'liberation day' tariffs

The Trump administration has appealed a decision from the US Court of International Trade blocking a large portion of President Donald Trump's tariffs from "liberation day" in April. 

Trump's appeal to the court follows a ruling handed down on Wednesday from a three-judge panel of the trade court that stated the executive branch does not have the power to enact "unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world."


The legal team for the Trump administration submitted the notice of appeal on Wednesday evening, writing, "Notice is hereby given that defendants appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from the Court's opinion and final judgment of May 28, 2025."

The decision from the court was in response to a lawsuit from a wine company and other businesses based in New York. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said of the decision from the court, "We sued the Trump Administration over their ridiculous tariff policy — and we WON! A tariff is just a backdoor tax. New York is fighting to stop these tariffs and put money back in your pocket." 

Despite the post from Hochul on eliminating the tariffs and lowering taxes, New York also happens to have the third-highest individual state income tax in the nation, per Axios.  

The three judges had been appointed by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, as well as Trump himself. They wrote in the opinion submitted on Wednesday, "The question ... is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 ('IEEPA') delegates these powers to the President in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world. The court does not read IEEPA to confer such unbounded authority and sets aside the challenged tariffs imposed thereunder."

The judges specified that the "Constitution assigns Congress the exclusive powers to ‘lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,’ as well as to ‘regulate Commerce with foreign Nations.'"

Along with the decision, the judges vacated the tariffs and added that the tariffs' "operation [is] permanently enjoined," or prohibited by law. 

In response to the decision, the White House told Fox Business that the Trump administration is committed to using every tool at its disposal to make America great again.