Trump administration has appealed to the US Supreme Court after an appeals court ruled many IEEPA tariffs unlawful. Washington says the 50% duties on India are vital to its Ukraine policy and warns the ruling creates dangerous diplomatic uncertainty.
The Trump administration on Thursday asked the United States Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision that found much of its sweeping tariff programme unlawful. In a fresh legal filing, the White House defended the use of emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as a necessary tool to press countries, including India, to limit purchases of Russian energy during the war in Ukraine.
The filing argues that the tariffs, which were doubled to 50 percent for India on August 27, are ‘a crucial aspect’ of the administration’s efforts to respond to the national emergency created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The appeal adds that the lower court’s decision ‘casts a pall of uncertainty upon ongoing foreign negotiations that the President has been pursuing through tariffs’, and could jeopardise deals the administration has been negotiating over recent months.