Obama Judge Issues 2nd Block on Trump Tariffs in 2 Days

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued preliminary injunction blocking tariffs against two companies.

This is the second court ruling blocking Trump tariffs following the judges' 3-0 ruling on the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday night.

Economic adviser Kevin Hassett said negotiations with other countries won’t be disrupted by a court striking down most of Trump’s tariffs.

"If there are little hiccups here or there because of decisions that activist judges make, then it shouldn’t just concern you at all,” Hassett said on Fox Business Network’s "Mornings with Maria. "And it’s certainly not going to affect the negotiations, because in the end, people know President Trump is 100% serious. They also have seen that President Trump always wins.”

He also suggested that the administration would not pursue other legal avenues to relaunch the tariffs, as the judges advised, since those "would take a couple of months to put” into place and the White House is "very, very confident” that the ruling by the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade is incorrect.

Lawyers for small businesses who challenged Trump’s "Liberation Day” tariffs are applauding the ruling that struck them down.

"It’s great to see that the court unanimously ruled against this massive power grab by the president,” said Ilya Somin, a George Mason University law professor who worked on the case with the libertarian-leaning Liberty Justice Center. They represent small businesses who said the tariffs were a major threat to their livelihoods.

Victor Schwartz, a small wine importer, calls the ruling a "win” for his businesses and others across the country. He said he’s ready to see the case through the Supreme Court as the Trump administration appeals.

The Trump administration says they’ll go to the Supreme Court if necessary as they appeal a ruling striking down sweeping tariffs the president imposed under an emergency powers law.

The Justice Department argues that the Court of International Trade must pause it ruling now. It calls this halt "critical for the country’s national security and the president’s conduct of ongoing delicate diplomatic efforts.”

The Trump administration is first asking the same three judges who ruled against him to halt their own order pending the appeal. If those judges refuse, it plans to go to a federal appeals court and then the Supreme Court if necessary.

The court’s decision blocks the tariffs Trump slapped last month on almost all U.S. trading partners and levies he imposed before that on China, Mexico and Canada.

Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official who is now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, says the court’s decision "throws the president’s trade policy into turmoil.”

"Partners negotiating hard during the 90-day day tariff pause period may be tempted to hold off making further concessions to the U.S. until there is more legal clarity,” she said.

Likewise, companies will have to reassess the way they run their supply chains, perhaps speeding up shipments to the United States to offset the risk that the tariffs will be reinstated on appeal.

For now, the trade court’s ruling "destroys the Trump administration’s rationale for using federal emergency powers to impose tariffs, which oversteps congressional authority and contravenes any notion of due process,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University. "The ruling makes it clear that the broad tariffs imposed unilaterally by Trump represent an overreach of executive power.’′

A federal court on Wednesday blocked Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law, swiftly throwing into doubt Trump’s signature set of economic policies that have rattled global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised broader fears about inflation intensifying and the economy slumping.

The ruling from a three-judge panel at the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump’s "Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority and left the country’s trade policy dependent on his whims.

Trump says he has the power to act because the country’s trade deficits amount to a national emergency.

The court found the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the use of tariffs. The plaintiffs argued that the trade deficit is not an emergency because the U.S. has run a trade deficit with the rest of the world for 49 consecutive years.

Information from The Associated Press was used to compile this report.