CIT ruling only a minor setback for the administration

The federal court ruling this week that the administration unlawfully imposed the 10% global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1974 is only a minor setback for Trump’s tariff agenda. Even if upheld by the higher courts, the statute was only being used as a stopgap to fill the hole left by the IEEPA while the US Trade Representative conducts Section 301 investigations, which would allow more durable tariffs to be imposed on anti-competitive grounds.