Trump tariffs stay in place for now after court reprieve
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — United States (US) President Donald Trump celebrated a temporary legal win as a court preserved his aggressive tariffs, triggering mixed reactions Friday across jittery financial markets.
The short-term relief will allow the appeals process to proceed after the US Court of International Trade barred most of the tariffs announced since Trump took office, ruling on Wednesday that he had overstepped his authority.
Welcoming the latest twist in legal skirmishes over his trade policies, Trump lashed out at the Manhattan-based trade court, calling it “horrible” and saying its blockade should be “quickly and decisively” reversed for good.
Asian shares fell on Friday, reversing a rally across world markets the previous day, as the judicial wrangling around Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs fanned uncertainty.
Paris, London and Frankfurt were all in the green as EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said following a call with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the bloc was “fully invested” in reaching a deal with the United States.
Sefcovic could meet his US trade counterparts in Paris next week on the sidelines of a Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ministerial meeting, an EU official said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that trade talks with China — the hardest hit by the tariffs — were “a bit stalled” and Trump might need to speak to President Xi Jinping in order to iron out tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies.
“I think that given the magnitude of the talks, given the complexity, that this is going to require both leaders to weigh in with each other,” Bessent told Fox News after the ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, known as an administrative stay.
Washington and Beijing agreed this month to pause reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, a surprise de-escalation in their bitter trade war following talks between top officials in Geneva.
Asked about Bessent’s comments at a regular news conference on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing had “stated its position on the tariffs issue many times” in an apparent reference to the Asian manufacturing giant’s fury at the levies.
Trump has moved to reconfigure US trade ties with the world since returning to the presidency in January, using levies to force foreign governments to the negotiating table.
However, the stop-start tariff rollout on both allies and adversaries has roiled markets and snarled supply chains.
The White House had been given 10 days to halt affected tariffs before Thursday’s decision from the appeals court.
The Trump administration called the block “blatantly wrong,” expressing confidence that the decision would be overturned on appeal.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the judges “brazenly abused their judicial power to usurp the authority of President Trump.”
Leavitt said the Supreme Court “must put an end” to the tariff challenge, while stressing that Trump had other legal means to impose levies.
A separate ruling by a federal district judge in the US capital found some Trump levies unlawful as well, giving the administration 14 days to appeal.
