The US Court of International Trade has ruled that a 10% global tariff introduced by US President Donald Trump to most US imports is illegal, The Guardian reported.
In its 7 May ruling, the court found that the tariffs had not been justified under a 1970s trade law, the report on the same date said.
The court ruled in favour of small businesses that challenged the tariffs, which took effect on 24 February. The ruling was 2-1, with one judge saying it was premature to grant victory to the small business plaintiffs.
In their application to the court, the small businesses had argued the new tariffs were an attempt to sidestep a landmark US supreme court decision that struck down the Republican president’s 2025 tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, The Guardian wrote.
In his February order, Trump invoked section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows for duties for up to 150 days to correct serious “balance of payments deficits” or prevent an imminent depreciation of the dollar.
The US government was already preparing to refund more than US$166bn tied to earlier tariff collections invalidated by the Supreme Court, NPR reported on 7 May.
On the same date, Trump also said he would give the European Union (EU) until 4 July to implement trade deal commitments before he raised tariffs on EU goods including cars to “much higher levels”, The Guardian wrote.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said he had issued the new deadline during a call with the European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen.
A FreightWaves report on 8 May quoted von der Leyen as saying the EU remained “fully committed” to implementing the deal and that “good progress” was being made toward tariff reductions ahead of the July deadline.
