Court challenge to global tariffs

A federal trade court spent more than three hours on April 10 probing whether President Donald Trump had legal authority to impose his new 10% global tariffs. (cit.uscourts.gov, opb.org) The case is in the United States Court of International Trade in New York, where a three-judge panel heard challenges from Oregon and 23 other states, along with businesses including Burlap and Barrel. (cit.uscourts.gov, opb.org) These tariffs are not the same ones the Supreme Court struck down on February 20, 2026. After losing that case, Trump switched from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and announced a 10% worldwide import surcharge. (opb.org, oregon.gov) Section 122 is a narrow backup power in trade law. The statute lets a president impose tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits or a sharp dollar decline, and Congress must act to extend them beyond that window. (law.cornell.edu, federalregister.gov) That is the fight in this case: whether a long-running trade deficit counts as the kind of payments crisis Congress had in mind in 1974. At Friday’s hearing, judges pressed both sides on what “balance-of-payments deficits” meant then and what it means now. (opb.org, law.cornell.edu) The states say no. Their March 5 lawsuit argues Section 122 was meant for specific, temporary financial emergencies, not as a replacement for the broader tariffs the Supreme Court already rejected. (opb.org, oregon.gov) Oregon has been at the center of both rounds of litigation. The state first led a 12-state challenge filed on April 23, 2025, won in the trade court on May 28, 2025, and stayed in the case through appeals until the Supreme Court struck down the earlier tariff program on February 20, 2026. (oregon.gov, opb.org) The administration says Section 122 gives the president enough room to act and has framed the tariffs as a response to what the White House calls “fundamental international payments problems.” Trump has said he could raise the rate to 15%, though as of the April 11 hearing he had not done so. (whitehouse.gov, opb.org) The clock is part of the case. Section 122 tariffs expire after 150 days unless Congress extends them, and the current 10% tariffs are scheduled to end on July 24, 2026. (law.cornell.edu, opb.org) No ruling came from the bench on April 10. The next question is whether the trade court moves quickly enough to decide the limits of presidential tariff power before the temporary tariffs run out on their own. (cit.uscourts.gov, opb.org)