US trade court blocks tariffs in major setback for Trump

A US federal court on Wednesday blocked most of Donald Trump’s sweeping import tariffs from going into effect, ruling that the president had overstepped his authority with the across-the-board global levies.

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The opinion marks a significant setback to the Republican leader as he bids to redraw the US trading relationship with the world by forcing governments to the negotiating table through tough new tariffs.

Trump’s global trade war has roiled financial markets with a stop-start rollout of levies that are aimed at punishing economies that sell more to the United States than they buy.

Trump argued that the resulting trade deficits and the threat posed by the influx of drugs constituted a “national emergency” that justified widespread tariffs.

But the three-judge Court of International Trade effectively called a ceasefire, barring most of the restrictions that the president has announced since taking office in January.