A federal appeals court on Thursday granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a lower-court ruling that struck down most of President Donald Trump‘s tariffs.
The Trump administration had earlier told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that it would seek “emergency relief” from the Supreme Court as soon as Friday if the tariff ruling was not quickly put on pause.
The judgment issued Wednesday night by the U.S. Court of International Trade is “temporarily stayed until further notice while this court considers the motions papers,” the appeals court said in its order.
The pause gives the Trump administration some breathing room as it prepares to argue that the trade court’s ruling should be halted for the duration of the appeals process.
Trump officials maintain that they have other options for imposing tariffs, even if they do not prevail in the case.
“Even if we lose, we will do it another way,” Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro told reporters at the White House on Thursday afternoon.
The appeals court gave the plaintiffs — a group that includes state attorneys general and a handful of domestic businesses — one week to respond to the administration’s bid for a stay pending appeal. The U.S. will be able to reply to that response by June 9.
“This is merely a procedural step as the court considers the government’s request for a longer stay pending appeal,” said Jeffrey Schwab, a lawyer for the business plaintiffs, in a statement.
“We are confident the Federal Circuit will ultimately deny the government’s motion shortly thereafter, recognizing the irreparable harm these tariffs inflict on our clients,” Schwab said.
The three-judge trade court panel — which included a Trump appointee — had invalidated all of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs and other duties.
The judges found that the 1970s-era law Trump had invoked to enact those tariffs, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, does not “confer such unbounded authority” to presidents.
The nationwide, permanent block they imposed covered all of the retaliatory tariffs that Trump issued in early April as part of his sweeping “liberation day” plan to reshape international trade with the rest of the world.
The ruling also barred the administration from making any future modifications to the tariffs in question. The court gave the administration 10 days to make the necessary changes to carry out the orders.
The government filed a notice of appeal shortly after the judgment came down. It asked the trade court to pause any enforcement of its ruling while the appeal process played out, while also seeking “at least interim relief” from the federal appellate court.
At the same time, the Trump administration aimed a barrage of criticism at the trade-court judges, accusing them of bias and abusing their power.
“The Supreme Court must put an end to this,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday afternoon. “These judges are threatening to undermine the credibility of the United States on the world stage.”
“We are living under a judicial tyranny,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote Thursday morning in response to the ruling, escalating his initial claim that “the judicial coup is out of control.”
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