President Donald Trump blew up at his own appointee to a federal trade court that struck a massive blow to his tariff agenda.
Trump went on a lengthy Truth Social rant on Thursday a day after the U.S. Court for International Trade ruled that he lacked authority to impose the bulk of his sweeping tariffs. Trump took particular issue with a conservative legal group that he said advised him on whom to nominate as judges.
“Where do these initial three Judges come from? How is it possible for them to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it purely a hatred of ‘TRUMP?’ What other reason could it be?” he wrote.
The three-judge panel was composed of appointees of Trump, Barack Obama, and Ronald Reagan. They ruled unanimously that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), which Trump invoked to justify his tariffs, does not grant him “unbounded authority” to impose global levies.
In 2018, Trump appointed Judge Timothy Reif to the federal trade court as part of the 15th wave of judicial nominees. Reif previously served as a senior advisor and general counsel of the U.S. Trade Representative and spent a decade as chief international trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee.
Trump kept mum about the federal trade court’s ruling against him until it was put on pause by an appeals court on Thursday. On the same day, federal judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee, issued a similar ruling stating that the IEEPA does not authorize Trump to impose his tariffs.
“The ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade is so wrong, and so political! Hopefully, the Supreme Court will reverse this horrible, Country threatening decision, QUICKLY and DECISIVELY,” he said. “Backroom ‘hustlers’ must not be allowed to destroy our Nation!”
Trump also took aim at the Federalist Society, blasting its chairman Leonard Leo as a “real sleazebag” and a “bad person, who in his own way, probably hates America, and obviously has his own separate ambitions.”
His bad blood with the conservative legal organization appeared to stem from its recommendations for judges.
“I was new to Washington, and it was suggested that I use The Federalist Society as a recommending source on Judges. I did so, openly and freely,” Trump said. “I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations. This is something that cannot be forgotten!”
Though a high-stakes legal battle over Trump’s tariffs is now underway, the administration might still be able to push through with its much-hyped levies, according to economists at Goldman Sachs.
“This ruling represents a setback for the administration’s tariff plans and increases uncertainty but might not change the final outcome for most major U.S. trading partners,” they wrote in a research note. “For now, we expect the Trump administration will find other ways to impose tariffs.”
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