Federal appeals court pauses ruling against Trump’s 10% global tariff

The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled 2-1 last week that Trump overstepped his authority by invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a 10% global import duty, which he did without congressional approval.

Published: May 12, 2026 5:47pm

A United States Court of Appeals on Tuesday paused a lower court's order that determined President Donald Trump overstepped his authority with his latest attempt at global tariffs.

The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled 2-1 last week that Trump overstepped his authority by invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a 10% global import duty, which he did without congressional approval.

The federal appeals court noted that the trade court did not widely ⁠block the tariff's collection and ruled that while the order is paused, tariffs will resume ⁠for the two businesses and Washington state, which sued over the tariffs, per Reuters.

The appeals court ruling is currently a short-term administrative stay, but the court is considering a ‌longer pause on the order. 

The ruling comes after the president invoked the law shortly after the Supreme Court struck down his wide-scale tariffs. But the trade court said Trump misapplied the law by failing to identify the specific type of economic crisis the law requires and thus did not follow the specific balance-of-payments measures intended when it wrote the statute five decades ago.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.

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