Politics
Trump tariffs ruled mostly illegal by US appeals court
NEW YORK: A divided US appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs are illegal, undercutting the Republican president’s use of levies as a key international economic policy tool.
The court allowed the tariffs to remain in place through October 14 to give the Trump administration a chance to file an appeal with the US Supreme Court.
The decision comes as a legal fight over the independence of the Federal Reserve also seems bound for the Supreme Court, setting up an unprecedented legal showdown this year over Trump’s entire economic policy.
Trump has made tariffs a pillar of US foreign policy in his second term, using them to exert political pressure and renegotiate trade deals with countries that export goods to the United States.
The tariffs have given the Trump administration leverage to extract economic concessions from trading partners but have also increased volatility in financial markets.
Trump lamented the decision by what he called a “highly partisan” court, posting on Truth Social: “If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country.”
He nonetheless predicted a reversal, saying he expected tariffs to benefit the country “with the help of the Supreme Court.”
The 7-4 decision from the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, addressed the legality of what Trump calls “reciprocal” tariffs imposed as part of his trade war in April, as well as a separate set of tariffs imposed in February against China, Canada and Mexico.
Democratic presidents appointed six judges in the majority and two judges who dissented, while Republican presidents appointed one judge in the majority and two dissenters.
The court’s decision does not impact tariffs issued under other legal authority, such as Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
‘Unusual and extraordinary’
Trump justified both sets of tariffs – as well as more recent levies – under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. IEEPA gives the president the power to address “unusual and extraordinary” threats during national emergencies.
“The statute bestows significant authority on the President to undertake a number of actions in response to a declared national emergency, but none of these actions explicitly include the power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like, or the power to tax,” the court said.
“It seems unlikely that Congress intended, in enacting IEEPA, to depart from its past practice and grant the President unlimited authority to impose tariffs.”
The 1977 law had historically been used for imposing sanctions on enemies or freezing their assets. Trump, the first president to use IEEPA to impose tariffs, says the measures were justified given trade imbalances, declining US manufacturing power and the cross-border flow of drugs.
Trump’s Department of Justice has argued that the law allows tariffs under emergency provisions that authorise a president to “regulate” imports or block them completely.
Trump declared a national emergency in April over the fact that the US imports more than it exports, as the nation has done for decades. Trump said the persistent trade deficit was undermining US manufacturing capability and military readiness.
Trump said the February tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico were appropriate because those countries were not doing enough to stop illegal fentanyl from crossing US borders, an assertion the countries have denied.
More uncertainty
William Reinsch, a former senior Commerce Department official now with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the Trump administration had been bracing for this ruling. “It’s common knowledge the administration has been anticipating this outcome and is preparing a Plan B, presumably to keep the tariffs in place via other statutes.”
There was little reaction to the ruling in after-hours stock trading.
“The last thing the market or corporate America needs is more uncertainty on trade,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.
Trump is also locked in a legal battle to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, potentially ending the central bank’s independence.
“I think it puts Trump’s entire economic agenda on a potential collision course with the Supreme Court. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen ever,” said Josh Lipsky, chair of international economics at the Atlantic Council.
The 6-3 conservative majority Supreme Court has issued a series of rulings favouring Trump’s second-term agenda but has also in recent years been hostile to expansive interpretations of old statutes to provide presidents newly found powers.
The appeals court ruling stems from two cases, one brought by five small US businesses and the other by 12 Democratic-led US states, which argued that IEEPA does not authorise tariffs.
The Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the authority to issue taxes and tariffs, and any delegation of that authority must be both explicit and limited, according to the lawsuits.
The New York-based US Court of International Trade ruled against Trump’s tariff policies on May 28, saying the president had exceeded his authority when he imposed both sets of challenged tariffs. The three-judge panel included a judge who was appointed by Trump in his first term.
Another court in Washington ruled that IEEPA does not authorise Trump’s tariffs, and the government has appealed that decision as well. At least eight lawsuits have challenged Trump’s tariff policies, including one filed by the state of California.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday claimed it had launched ballistic missile strikes targeting a US aircraft carrier, identifying the vessel as the USS Abraham Lincoln, as part of what it called “Operation True Promise 4.”
In a statement, the IRGC’s public relations office said four ballistic missiles were fired at the carrier, adding that Iran’s military campaign had entered a “new phase.” The group warned that both land and sea would become the “burial place” for what it described as aggressors.
Multiple Waves of Strikes Announced
Earlier, the IRGC said it had launched the seventh and eighth waves of strikes under the same operation, in response to what it termed ongoing aggression by the United States and Israel.
Iran claimed it had carried out precision strikes on military targets in Israeli territory, including areas near Tel Aviv and Haifa. It also alleged that Israeli officials had taken shelter due to heightened security concerns.
Targets Across the Gulf
The IRGC further stated that it had targeted US-operated facilities in West Asia, including the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain, as well as installations in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
There has been no immediate confirmation from US or Israeli officials regarding the reported missile strikes or the extent of any damage.
Rising Regional Tensions
The developments mark a sharp escalation in regional tensions following reported military exchanges between Iran, Israel and US forces over the weekend.
Independent verification of the claims remains pending, and international observers have urged restraint amid fears of a broader conflict across the Middle East.
A number of Iranian senior leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have embraced martyrdom in the “unprovoked and unwarranted” airstrikes by Israel and the United States.
As crowds gathered in Tehran, explosions rang out, and the Israeli military announced that it was again striking targets in the heart of the city — as more blasts were heard in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Dubai, Doha and Manama.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian declared Khamenei’s assassination a “declaration of war against Muslims” and warned: “Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime.”
Iranian state media have confirmed the killing of several senior figures:
1. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran
2. Ali Shamkhani, representative of the Supreme Leader in the Supreme Defence Council
3. General Abdolrahim Mousavi, Iran’s Armed Forces chief of staff
4. Major General Mohammad Pakpour, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
5. Aziz Nasirzadeh, Minister of Defence
6. Gholamreza Rezaian, police intelligence chief of Iran
Separately, the daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter of Ali Khamenei also embraced martyrdom in the US and Israeli airstrikes.
- Middle Eastern airport hubs remain closed or restricted.
- Airlines reroute or cancel flights, affecting global schedules.
- Risk of prolonged disruption due to regional conflicts.
DUBAI: Global air travel remained heavily disrupted on Sunday as continued air strikes kept major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai, the world’s busiest international hub, closed in one of the sharpest aviation shocks in recent years.
Key transit airports including Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and Doha in Qatar, were shut or severely restricted as much of the region’s airspace remained closed, with the Gulf grappling with uncertainty after U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Israel said it launched another wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday, while loud blasts were heard for a second day near Dubai and over Doha, after Iran launched retaliatory air attacks on the neighbouring Gulf states.
Dubai International Airport sustained damage during Iran’s attacks, while airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait were also hit. Thousands of flights have been affected across the Middle East since the U.S. first launched attacks on Iran on Saturday, according to data on FlightAware, a flight tracking platform.
Ripple effects
The airport closures have rippled far beyond the Middle East. Dubai and neighbouring Doha sit at the crossroads of east-west air travel, funnelling long-haul traffic between Europe and Asia through tightly scheduled networks of connecting flights.
With those hubs idle, aircraft and crews remained stranded out of position, disrupting airline schedules worldwide.
“It’s the sheer volume of people and the complexity,” said UK-based aviation analyst John Strickland.
“It is not only customers, it is the crews and aircraft all over place.”
Airlines across Europe, Asia and the Middle East cancelled or rerouted flights to avoid closed or restricted airspace, lengthening journeys and driving up fuel costs. The disruption has been intensified by the loss of Iranian and Iraqi overflight routes, which had grown more important since the Russia-Ukraine war forced airlines to avoid both countries’ airspace.
The Middle East airspace closures were squeezing airlines into narrower corridors, with fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan adding a further risk, said Ian Petchenik, communications director at Flightradar24.
“The risk of protracted disruption is the main concern from a commercial aviation perspective,” Petchenik said.
“Any escalation in the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan that results in the closure of airspace would have drastic consequences for travel between Europe and Asia.”
Middle East flights halted
Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar remained virtually empty, maps by flight-tracking service Flightradar24 showed, and air strikes kept major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha shut or severely restricted.
Below is the latest on flights listed by airline in alphabetical order:
Aegean Airlines
Greece’s largest carrier suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel, Beirut in Lebanon and Erbil in Iraq until March 2.
Air Astana
The group cancelled all flights to the Middle East through March 3.
Air Canada
The airline said it has cancelled flights from Canada to Israel until March 8 and flights to Dubai until March 3.
Air Europa
The Spanish airline cancelled its flights to Tel Aviv on Sunday and Monday and is monitoring the situation to assess operations from Tuesday.
Air France KLM
Air France cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel and Beirut in Lebanon for Saturday.
Its Dutch arm KLM said late on Saturday that this weekend’s flights to and from Dubai, Dammam and Riyadh have been cancelled. It had already brought forward suspension of its Amsterdam–Tel Aviv service to Saturday.
Air India
The carrier cancelled flights scheduled for Sunday from Delhi, Mumbai and Amritsar to London, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Frankfurt and Paris. It added that more flights to London, Birmingham, Amsterdam, Zurich, Milan, Vienna, Copenhagen and Frankfurt had been cancelled.
Azerbaijan Airlines
The airline has suspended flights to and from Dubai, Doha, Jeddah and Tel Aviv.
British Airways
IAG-owned British Airways said it has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 3 and its flight to Amman on Saturday.
Cathay Pacific
Hong Kong’s Cathay Group, parent of Cathay Pacific Airways, suspended operations in the region, affecting passenger flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh, as well as freighter service at Al Maktoum airport. That is Dubai’s second airport after Dubai International Airport, the primary hub that handles most passenger traffic.
Emirates
Owing to multiple regional airspace closures, Emirates has suspended all operations to and from Dubai until 3pm UAE time on March 2.
Etihad
The UAE’s Etihad said flights scheduled to depart Abu Dhabi were suspended until 2pm local time on Sunday.
Flydubai
The airline said it had temporarily suspended all flights to and from Dubai until 3pm local time on Sunday.
Iberia Express
The Spanish airline owned by Iberia Group cancelled a flight to Tel Aviv scheduled for Saturday at 5pm local time.
IndiGo
IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, said it had extended a temporary suspension of select international flights using Middle East airspace until Monday.
ITA Airways
ITA Airways suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv and said it would not use the airspace of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Iran until March 7. Flights to and from Dubai were suspended until March 1.
Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines cancelled a flight on Saturday from Tokyo Haneda to Doha as well as a return flight on March 1, Nikkei said.
LOT Polish Airlines
The airline suspended flights to Tel Aviv until March 15 and cancelled flights to Dubai and Riyadh until March 2.
Lufthansa
The German airline flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel, Beirut in Lebanon and Oman until March 7 and flights to and from Dubai on Saturday and Sunday.
It also said it would not fly through Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Iraqi and Iranian airspace until March 7.
Norwegian Air
The Nordic airline suspended all flights to and from Dubai until March 4, a company spokesperson said. The carrier did not suspend flights to Tel Aviv in Israel or Beirut in Lebanon because these destinations are only active in summer, he added.
Pegasus Airlines
The airline said that flights to Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon were cancelled up to and including March 2.
Qatar Airways
The airline said flights remain temporarily suspended owing to the closure of the Qatari airspace. It will provide a further update by 9am local time on Monday.
Scandinavian Airlines
The airline told Reuters it had suspended its flight to Tel Aviv from Copenhagen on Saturday. No decision had been made regarding flights on later dates.
Turkish Airlines
The airline cancelled flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman on Saturday and flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan until March 2.
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Atlantic said it will temporarily avoid Iraqi airspace, resulting in some pre-planned rerouting of flights and has cancelled its VS400 service from London Heathrow to Dubai on Saturday.
Wizz Air
The Hungarian carrier halted flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman with immediate effect until March 7.
It added that operational decisions would continue to be reviewed and the flight schedule could be adjusted as the situation evolves.
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