President Donald Trump got yet another body blow to his trade agenda on Thursday, as a pair of federal judges ruled his 10 percent global tariff illegal.
"In a split ruling, the Court of International Trade found that Mr. Trump had wrongly invoked a decades-old trade law when he applied those duties in February, almost immediately after his last set of punishing tariffs was struck down by the Supreme Court," reported The New York Times.
The prior set of "reciprocal" tariffs had been implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. However, the Supreme Court determined that the law doesn't authorize the president to unilaterally declare new tariffs without an act of Congress.
Since then, Trump has been forced to roll out a program to refund money illegally confiscated as a result of his first round of tariffs. The refunds are expected to start being issued next week.
This new decision once again throws Trump's ability to impose taxes on imports into turmoil.
