Carney ‘welcomes’ U.S. court ruling striking down some U.S. tariffs

By Canadian Press on May 29, 2025.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he “welcomes” the decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade to strike down President Donald Trump’s broad-based tariffs on most countries.

On Wednesday, court ruled that Trump does not have the authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country using the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, usually referred to by the acronym IEEPA.

The decision blocked both the “Liberation Day” duties and the fentanyl-related tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

Addressing the House of Commons Thursday morning, Carney said the decision “is consistent with Canada’s long-standing position that the U.S. IEEPA tariffs were unlawful as well as unjustified.”

“That said, we recognize that our trading relationship with the United States is still profoundly and adversely threatened and affected by similarly unjustified 232 tariffs against steel, aluminum and the auto sector, as well as continuing threats of tariffs against other strategic sectors including lumber, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals,” he said.

“It therefore remains the top priority of Canada’s new government to establish a new economic and security relationship with the United States and to strengthen our collaboration with reliable trading partners and allies around the world.”

The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal soon after the ruling came down. While the president has not yet commented on the ruling, members of Trump’s team have widely condemned it.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted on social media that Americans are “living under a judicial tyranny.” White House spokesman Kush Desai said “it is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency.”

The decision at the New York-based federal court was delivered by a panel of three judges. One was appointed by Trump during his first administration, another by former president Barack Obama and the third by former president Ronald Reagan.

The ruling said “any interpretation of IEEPA that delegates unlimited tariff authority is unconstitutional.” The decision separately blocked the fentanyl tariffs because it said “they do not deal with the threats” Trump cited to justify the duties in his executive order.

The decision calls into question how Trump can continue to wield the threat of tariffs against the world. He has said he imposed the duties to encourage other countries to make trade deals with the U.S. He’s also claimed they’ll bring manufacturing back to America and fill federal coffers.

The president relied heavily on IEEPA to implement many of his tariffs. While the national security statute gives the U.S. president authority to control economic transactions after declaring an emergency, it had never been used before to impose tariffs.

Trump declared an emergency at the northern border to hit Canada with economywide tariffs in March. He partially paused those levies a few days later for imports that comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.

The next month, he declared America’s trade deficits also amounted to to a national emergency in order to hit nearly every country with tariffs. The president walked back the most devastating duties a few hours later but left a 10 per cent universal tariff in place.

Trump has continued to use IEEPA to threaten unpredictable increases to tariffs. After recently vowing to increase duties on the European Union to 50 per cent starting in June, he pushed the date back to July.

Wednesday’s court decision appears to take that tariff threat power out of the president’s hands.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called the court’s decision “good news” but said Canada “can no longer put all our eggs in the U.S. basket. Too risky.”

“Canada must fire up free enterprise to build pipelines, powerlines, ports, rail, roads, and tech — so we are strong, self-reliant and sovereign for a change,” Poilievre said in a post on social media Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.

David Baxter and Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press