In a recent Forbes article, Robert Shapiro, Thompson Coburn’s International Trade and Regulatory Practice Chair, discussed how a temporary rollback of President Trump’s tariffs could impact plaintiffs’ demands for an immediate halt. The U.S. Court of International Trade is considering a request from a group of small businesses to pause tariffs while a broader lawsuit plays out.
Robert said the Trump administration’s announcement early Monday that it’s temporarily rolling back its tariffs on Chinese imports could make it harder for the plaintiffs to prove the tariffs should be immediately blocked. The 30% total tariff rate in place during the 90-day rollback is far less than the sky-high 145% tariffs businesses previously faced, which Robert said “in some ways creates a challenge to the plaintiffs in the case.”
Are the tariffs and their impacts “really as harmful at 10%?” he asked. While the plaintiff companies claim the tariffs will make it harder for them to do business and compete, Robert also noted that with all businesses facing the same fees, “maybe all prices go up and then you’re back in a competitive environment.”
Robert said the Court of International Trade can act “pretty quickly,” though while he expects the issue of whether to immediately block the tariffs to be decided faster, it’s unlikely there will be any ruling on the issue of whether Trump violated the IEEPA before the 90-day pauses on his tariffs on China and other countries expire.
The federal circuit court is historically deferential to presidents when it comes to imposing tariffs, though it’s still unclear how the Supreme Court could ultimately rule on the issue. “I think the Supreme Court may find it to be a stretch,” Robert said about Trump using the IEEPA to justify his tariffs, “but this court is hard to predict.”
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