Inside Trade

September 25, 2025

Court of International Trade

9th Circuit links IEEPA appeals for back-to-back arguments

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has set a pair of cases on President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs for back-to-back oral argument sessions in September -- a move that keeps the suits formally separate but ensures they will be decided by the same panel of three judges. The appellate court scheduled arguments for Sept. 17 in both IEEPA cases pending there -- known as California v. Trump and Webber, et al., v. Department of...

Tariff challengers focus on 1974 law in appeals of Trump’s ‘emergency’ duties

States and small-business coalitions challenging the Trump administration’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act duties are focusing their latest arguments on a 1974 law they say Congress created as the sole pathway for the president to address trade deficits, while still renewing broader claims that IEEPA provides no authority for tariffs in any form. The two sets of plaintiffs in the consolidated tariff cases, known as V.O.S. Selections, et al., v. Trump, filed separate merits briefs with the U.S. Court of...

Amicus parties float wide-ranging attacks on IEEPA tariffs as appeal advances

An array of think tanks, former policymakers and interest groups is urging federal judges to uphold the Court of International Trade decision striking down President Trump’s litany of International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs, arguing in new amicus briefs that the government’s defenses contradict clear judicial precedent -- including a Supreme Court case less than a month old. The new filings, which arrived at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ahead of a July 8 deadline for...

CIT fast-tracks suit over de minimis phaseout, sets July 10 argument

The Court of International Trade is accelerating a challenge to President Trump’s termination of de minimis duty-free entry for low-value Chinese packages, with oral argument now set for July 10 after the Michigan-based auto parts importer behind the case warned that it faces an imminent shutdown without a swift decision. But CIT is also narrowing the case to focus only on issues specific to de minimis, saying it will not consider whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariff orders...

DC Circuit court plans Sept. 30 oral argument on IEEPA tariffs

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will hear argument on the legality of President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs at the end of September -- nearly two months after another court will hold its own hearing in the parallel appeal of a Court of International Trade decision that declared the duties unlawful. According to a scheduling order dated July 1, the DC Circuit will hold an in-person hearing the morning of Sept. 30 in Learning...

New Supreme Court precedent could narrow rulings on ‘emergency’ tariffs

Lawyers and former trade officials say last week’s landmark Supreme Court decision that limited judges’ ability to issue “universal” injunctions could mean even a final decision overturning President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs might not apply nationwide, but might instead force importers to sue individually or as part of a class action to secure carve-outs and refunds. “Depending on how it goes, I think it’s something the Supreme Court is likely to ultimately have to resolve,” Molly Nixon,...

California asks appeals court to keep IEEPA tariff suits out of CIT

California is laying out a new argument for keeping its lawsuit over President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs away from the Court of International Trade, aiming to counter the emerging position held by some judges and the Justice Department that any executive order directing a change in tariff rates falls under CIT’s jurisdiction alone. “The origin of California’s claims -- i.e., the law this action ‘arises out of’ -- is not the executive orders that are being challenged;...

Justice backs broad view of CIT’s jurisdiction in IEEPA tariff appeal

The Justice Department is embracing the position that all suits over President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act belong at the Court of International Trade because that court has exclusive jurisdiction over tariff changes, attacking a framework that focuses on whether a particular duty is authorized by law -- which dominated prior phases of the litigation -- as “nonsensical.” DOJ laid out its new position in a June 27 brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit,...

Importer's court brief attacking de minimis phaseout

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Importer urges CIT to reject ‘breathtaking’ White House de minimis argument

An importer challenging President Trump’s termination of the de minimis tariff exemption for low-value shipments from China says the Justice Department is using the case to claim “breathtaking power” to override tariff statutes whenever the president declares that an “emergency” makes them unworkable. In a June 26 brief to the Court of International Trade, auto parts importer and reseller Detroit Axle argues that DOJ’s defense of the new de minimis policy would allow the president to set new tariffs at...

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