Federal appeals court pauses ruling against Trump 10% tariffs

A federal appeals court has temporarily paused a lower court ruling that found President Donald Trump's global 10 percent tariffs unlawful, allowing the duties to remain in effect while the legal challenge proceeds. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued an administrative stay on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, halting the enforcement of a decision from the U.S. Court of International Trade.

Last week, the Court of International Trade ruled 2-1 that the president overstepped his authority by invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose the temporary import duty. The court found the administration improperly cited general trade and current account deficits to justify the tariffs, rather than the specific "large and serious" balance-of-payments deficit or international monetary crisis Congress intended the statute to address. The ruling stated the law was meant for narrow emergencies, not routine trade imbalances, and warned against granting the president open-ended tariff authority without meaningful congressional limits.

However, that ruling applied only to the three plaintiffs in the case: two small businesses, Burlap Barrel and Basic Fun, and the State of...