Following a White House appeal, a U.S. federal appeals court has reinstated tariffs affecting Canadian goods. This action reverses a decision made by another court just hours prior that had struck down the tariffs.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington provided no opinion on the matter but directed plaintiffs to respond by June 5th, and the Trump administration by June 9th.
On Wednesday, the Court of International Trade ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the same act used by the Trump administration, does not grant the president unilateral power to impose broad import taxes.
The court determined that such authority rests exclusively with Congress and would need a legislative process to impose broad tariffs on Canada and other countries.
That ruling has now been overturned effective Thursday evening.
The previous ruling applied to tariffs levied on Canada excluding steel, aluminum and automobile tariffs which were imposed under separate mechanisms.
On Wednesday, the courts had previously given the White House 10 days to begin the formal process of halting the affected tariffs; that order is no longer in place.
Following the brief halt of tariffs politicians in Canada rushed to applaud the decision on Thursday just moments before reinstatement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney reacted earlier today saying; “Canada welcomes the U.S. Court of International Trade’s decision on the United States’ tariffs,” Carney said in a statement Thursday. “It confirmed what we’ve always held: that the American tariffs against Canadian goods are unlawful and unjustified.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also applauded the outcome, but warned against overreliance on U.S. trade.
“Good news: A U.S. trade court has struck down harmful tariffs on some Canadian goods,” Poilievre said in a post to X. “We need true free trade — so workers earn more, prices fall, and businesses boom on both sides of the border.
“But we can no longer put all our eggs in the U.S. basket. Too risky. Canada must fire up free enterprise to build pipelines, powerlines, ports, rail, roads, and tech — so we are strong, self-reliant and sovereign for a change.”