President Donald Trump’s broad tariffs on imported goods face a major court test Thursday, a day before steep levies are scheduled to hit key U.S. trading partners. So far, the Trump administration has struck just seven trade deals since the president declared “Liberation Day” from foreign imports in April.
Barring last-minute deals or another extension, the United States will apply tariffs of 35% on Canadian goods beginning Friday.
Trump also could make good on his threat to impose a 145% tariff on Chinese products, although Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the United States and China have “the makings of a trade deal.”
Trump announced a 90-day delay on a 30% tariff on Mexican goods after speaking by telephone Thursday with President Claudia Sheinbaum. He said the two countries would continue negotiating. But he criticized Canada over its decision to recognize Palestine as a state during the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“Wow!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!”
‘Unbounded authority’
Unbiased. Straight Facts.TM
As a deadline approaches for trade deals to avoid steep tariffs on imports, the Trump administration has reached just seven agreements. A trade adviser had predicted “90 deals in 90 days.”
Trump also posted about Thursday’s hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which will hear a challenge to the president’s tariff authority from 12 states and five small businesses.
“To all of my great lawyers who have fought so hard to save our Country, good luck in America’s big case today,” Trump wrote. “If our Country was not able to protect itself by using TARIFFS AGAINST TARIFFS, WE WOULD BE ‘DEAD,’ WITH NO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL OR SUCCESS.”
The case was filed after Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff on imports from virtually every country. He also threatened to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on many nations. The government initially planned for the tariffs to take effect on April 9. Trump then delayed the implementation until July 9 and then to Friday.
Shortly after the initial announcement, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that Trump did not have the authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. No other president had ever imposed tariffs under the law, which is typically used to apply economic sanctions onto other countries.
The court said Congress has exclusive powers to impose tariffs, and the law does not “confer such unbounded authority” on the president.
The appeals court blocked enforcement of the lower court’s ruling while the Trump administration appealed. Lawyers for both sides have indicated they would ultimately appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
7 deals in 109 days
Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, predicted on April 9 that the president could make “90 deals in 90 days” that would include favorable trading terms for the United States.
It is now 109 days later, and the administration has signed just seven trade deals, and some of those still have details to be worked out.
By far the biggest agreement was with the 27 nations that make up the European Union. The United States imported goods valued at $605.8 billion from EU countries in 2024, while exporting $370.2 billion in goods, according to the U.S. Trade Representative.
The Trump administration also reached agreements with Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.
The deals call for the United States to collect tariffs from 10% to 20%.
A tentative agreement reached in May would impose a 30% tariff on Chinese imports.
“We’re moving along with China,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “We’re doing fine with China. I think it’s going to work out very well. We’re right in step. I think we’re going to have a very fair deal with China.”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Alan Judd
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://straightarrownews.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
