The announcement of the new rates on April 2nd. On 29 May a federal court suspends them. Another unlocks them. The White House uses the Supreme Court. In short, the certainties are less and less
Last night, a federal appeal court accepted the appeal of the White House reintroducing all the duties. In less than 24 hours most of the duties imposed By American president Donald Trump were first suspended and then reintroduced. But what rates had been removed and then put back?
In the storm generated by this “chaos duties” it is not easy to follow the thread of events. So let’s start from the beginning to make some clarity about this matter.
The imposition of the duties and the “liberation day”
After giving the way by imposing the first duties of 25% in February of this year on all imports from Canada and Mexico (as well as 10% in China), in March the administration doubled the measure imposed on China, bringing it to 20%. It is in April, however, that the “duties war” has begun. On April 2, in fact, President Donald Trump proclaimed the “liberation day”, announcing a new tariff strategy aimed at correcting what he defined “decades of unjust commercial relations that have disadvantaged the producers and American workers”.
During a ceremony in the Garden of the Roses of the White House, Trump signed the executive order 14257, outlining an extended global tariff policy, described as the “declaration of economic independence” of the United States. With this executive order a two -level tariff structure was created.
A universal rate of 10%, applied to all imports from all countrieswith an exception for Canada and Mexico e “mutual” rates specific by country. The latter were based on what the administration considered unjust commercial practices of about 60 countries. For example, the European Union would have been subject to a 20%rate, China at 34%, Japan at 24%, 46%Vietnam and 26%India.
In reality, in the calculation of the tariff, the administration gave weight to the commercial deficit that the United States had a country by country. In other words, the more your commercial surplus with the USA was high, the higher the rate was. The reason? For the Trump administration, the 1.2 trillion commercial deficit recorded in 2024 is a national emergency. Emergency to remedy. The high rates, counting on the importance of the American market for world trade, are according to the American administration the right tool to find more balanced commercial agreements with the various countries of the world.
On April 9, Trump suspended all mutual rates for a period of 90, keeping only the universal one of 10% and those imposed on China. Since then, in fact, the priority of the White House has become the signature of new balanced commercial agreements with the various partnersso far reached only with the United Kingdom.
The beginning of the skirmishes in the courts
We then arrive on May 28th. On that date the US Court of International Trade (Cit), created in 1980 and having national jurisdiction on imports, exports and duties, ordered the immediate cancellation of the duties imposed by the American administration; not of all the duties, but of those imposed based on International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The reason is that this law, according to the CIT, was bad interpreted by the Administration, since the powers envisaged by it can only be used in the presence of “unusual and extraordinary threats”.
Threats that according to the Court does not exist. Therefore, the CIT has requested the Administration to issue the administrative orders necessary to implement the injunction of the Court itself within 10 days. In other words, to eliminate the duties.
But what rates did the court refer to? To all the duties imposed in the now famous “liberation day”: from the universal duty of 10%, to mutual duties imposed on about 60 countries with variable rates. The Court had also invalidated the duties imposed, between February and March, in Mexico, Canada and China because of the concerns related to illegal immigration and the trafficking of Fentanyl. On the other hand, universal duties of 25% imposed on specific sectors, such as steel, aluminum and cars had not been disabled.
About 24 hours after this decision of the cit, A Federal Court of Appeal has granted an emergency suspension (Emergency Stay) of the previous sentence, allowing the Trump Administration to continue to collect the contested duties while the case proceeds on appeal. The United States can therefore return to collect the duties currently in force, or 10% universal and specific duties on China, Canada and Mexico. Be careful though. The judicial skirmishes are only at the beginning. The suspension is temporary, while the case is discussed on appeal, with the next hearing set for June 5, 2025.
The question is of vital importance for the Trump administration. In the appeal presented (and then accepted) it reads that the decision of the Court of International Trade: «It would bring the president to the world on the world scene, he would paralyze his ability to negotiate commercial agreements, would endanger the government’s ability to respond to these and future national emergencies. Political branches, not the courts, make foreign policy and define economic policy ».
Donald Trump had already been quite clear on the night between Thursday and Friday, when he had defined the CIT ruling as “politics” And “horrible».
