There US Federal Court US International Trade Court temporarily suspended some of the tariff measures imposed by US President Donald Trump: the United States Court for international trade has in fact declared “illegitimate»The duties applied by Trump with the Liberation Daybased on a Law of 1977theInternational Emergency Economic Powers Act, according to which it would be the Congress the body in charge of establishing any application of customs rates. Now the Trump government will have 10 days of time to restore a situation of legitimacy “through the adoption of administrative measures” and the suspension of these duties.
The White House has strongly opposed the injunction, appealing to an alleged state of national emergency And to the fact that the judges are “not elected”. The Administration said she wanted to present Appeal against the sentenceand the question could also end up Supreme Court.
This umpteenth change He reported the name “Taco Trade” for the US President (acronym for TRUMP ALWAYS CHICKENS OUT“Trump always backs back”), attributed to the US president by a financial Times journalist, Robert Armstrongprecisely for his continuous announcements and changes of program in the application of customs rates.
Because the US Federal Court intervened on the legitimacy of the duties
The sentence of the US International Trade Court comes after several American entities and companies have As a suction of the Trump Administration for the economic damage deriving from the imposition of the duties. In particular, the sentence refers to two specific causes: the first was intended by a group of small businessesincluding a wine importer, who may not survive in the event that Trump actually decided to impose Rates of 200% wine and other alcoholic products from the European Union.
The second cause against the administration, however, was presented by a group of 12 USA States, led by Oregon and governed by the Democratic Party: the accusation is to have abused of emergency powers in the hands of the President, given that the commercial deficit (used as justification by Trump for the application of extraordinary measures) does not constitute an emergency real, but can be defined as a maximum as an “unusual and extraordinary threat”.
In fact, the sentence established that the tariff orders by Donald Trump «they exceed any authority granted to the president with the aim of regulating the import by duties ».
In particular, the Court said illegitimate Three executive orders of Trump: the first has to do with Trump’s decision to apply duties to almost all the countries of the world, announced by tycoon In April 2025 with an example table that reported the different percentages of imposed rates. In the second case, however, this is the executive order with which Trump established a further surge in duties against all the countries that had responded with countermeasures for the United States.
Finally, the third concerns the rates imposed in Mexico and Canada with the aim of fighting the entry of Fenanyl and others drugs in the United States: in this case, the US International Trade Court He deemed the measure illegitimate as not closely linked to the problem of drug consumption in the USA. In fact, several rates have been imposed on the two countries that also concern goods and services not closely linked to drug traffickinglike several agricultural or tech products.
What happens now: Trump has 10 days to remove the duties
The order of the Court, therefore, it does not concern all duties imposed by Donald Trump over the course of these months, but exclusively those justified Based onInternational Emergency Economic Powers Act: Among the excluded, for example, the rates of the 25% tax on steel and aluminum, As well as some of the duties applied to goods from China. The law, however, provides that in these cases it is the Congress to have approve any duties: Trump, however, managed to get around this requirement leveraging precisely on the commercial deficit (i.e. an imbalance of imports, too high compared to the value of exports), classifying it as national emergency.
Since the tariff measures are “without value Since contrary to the law », the Court ordered the Trump administration to adopt, within 10 daysall “the necessary administrative orders” to restore the situation and remove illegitimate rates.
The response of the White House: the process could end before the Supreme Court
The White House has severely criticized the decision of the court, with the spokesman for the White House, Kush Desai, who said:
It is not up to unleashed judges to decide how to adequately deal with a national emergency. President Trump has committed himself to putting America in first place and the administration undertakes to use any leverage of executive power to face this crisis and restore the greatness of America.
Actually, i judges that make up the Court for International Trade they are not elected directly by the citizens: the Court, however, was created by American congressthat is the organ representative of popular will in the United States, whose elections take place every two years. THE members of the Court, among other things, are appointed by US Presidentalso directly elected by American citizens every 4 years: one of them, the judge Timothy Reifhad been designated by Donald Trump himself in 2018.
Taking as an example a similar executive order adopted by the President Richard Nixon In 1971, the Trump government then justified the application of customs tariffs in response to “serious internal crisis»Which is going through the United States and classified as a national emergency.
The White House said he wanted to present Appeal against the sentence: in this case, the process will be held in front of the Court of Appeal of the United States for the Federal Circuit of Washington DC, but could go up to Usa Supreme Court for the last degree of judgment.
What does the nickname of Trump “Taco Trade” mean and what the duties have to do with
The ironic nickname Taco-Trump Always Chickens Out He was coined by Armstrong in one of his columns on May 2, with the aim of summarizing the continuous pull and give up of the President of the United States, which has first increased customs duties, and then summarize them and finally suspend them momentarily (with the exception of those applied to China): the implication is that Donald Trump actually has too much fear To complete his commercial policy, given the potential risks for the American economy in front of a raising so drastic of the price of imports.
The nickname has returned viral precisely in the last few hours following yet another change of direction given the judgment of the Court of International Commerce: in front of the press the President of the USA was shown furious of this new nickname, justifying the inversions of course as “part of the negotiations” e criticizing Hardly the reporter who reopened the matter.
