Cato Institute legal experts are available for interviews on the U.S. Court of International Trade’s ruling blocking some of President Trump’s tariffs on U.S. trading partners.

Ilya Somin, B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional Studies and co-counsel for the plaintiffs in VOS Selections v. Trump, one of the cases decided in the ruling, issued the following statement:

It is great to see that the court unanimously ruled against this massive power grab by the President. The ruling emphasizes that he was wrong to claim a virtually unlimited power to impose tariffs, that IEEPA law doesn’t grant any such boundless authority, and that it would be unconstitutional if it did.

Walter Olson, senior fellow at the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, issued the following statement:

This really *is* Liberation Day: The court’s decision striking down Trump’s mass tariffs as unlawful is a tremendous triumph for the rule of law, human freedom, and prosperity, and a deserved rebuke for arbitrary one-man rule over our livelihoods.

In finding that Trump overstepped the emergency authority granted him by a 1977 law, the panel of judges was unanimous in awarding summary judgment. It found no genuine dispute as to any material fact. The judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade are selected for their close knowledge of U.S. trade law. In short, I expect this ruling to be hard for the Administration to overturn on appeal.”

Scott Lincicome, Vice President for General Economics and the Stiefel Trade Policy Center, issued the following statement:

The ruling is a huge and immediate relief for thousands of American companies facing potentially crippling new costs that materialized almost overnight through no fault of their own. And it gives foreign governments — once compelled to negotiate new terms of the trade agreements the Trump administration broke — significant new leverage in ongoing trade talks. Hopefully, the ruling will stand on appeal, so we can put this costly and embarrassing episode behind us.

If you would like to speak with one of our experts, please contact pr@​cato.​org to set up an interview.