AP File Photo-White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller speaks with reporters outside the White House, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Reporting by Zac Anderson, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The United States Court of International Trade ruled President Donald Trump can’t use a 1977 law to impose tariffs, dealing a blow to his trade agenda.

Trump declared a series of national emergencies to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and impose tariffs on foreign nations.

The unanimous ruling from the three-judge panel states the IEEPA “does not authorize” Trump’s tariffs and orders them halted.

The ruling notes that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority to impose tariffs.

“The question… is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act… delegates these powers to the President in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world,” the ruling states. “The court does not read IEEPA to confer such unbounded authority and sets aside the challenged tariffs imposed thereunder.”

The ruling came in a pair of lawsuits, one filed by the nonpartisan Liberty Justice Center on behalf of five small U.S. businesses that import goods from countries targeted by the duties and the other by 13 U.S. states.

The companies, which range from a New York wine and spirits importer to a Virginia-based maker of educational kits and musical instruments, have said the tariffs will hurt their ability to do business.

“It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency. President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement

Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller wrote on social media in response to the ruling that “The judicial coup is out of control.”