US Court of International Trade strikes down Section 122 tariffs

In another legal blow to the White House, the New York-based US Court of International Trade (USCIT) struck down President Donald Trump’s second set of tariffs imposing a 10 percent levy on goods from all over the world. The 2-1 ruling was announced on Thursday, May 7.

The sanctions were invoked under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, and announced by the President back in February 2026, right after the US Supreme Court struck down the original set of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in April 2025. 

In their decision, the judges underscored that Section 122 was drafted to address “fundamental international payments problems,” and rejected the President’s logic, arguing the statute applied to the current US economy. 

According to Reuters, President Trump blamed the decision on “two radical left judges,” alluding to Chief Judge Mark Barnett and Judge Claire Kelly, both appointed by President Barack Obama. 

“Nothing surprises me with the courts. Nothing surprises me," he told reporters in Washington, according to the press agency. "We get one ruling, and we do it a different way."

Not the end of tariffs

As much as a victory as this is to President Trump’s opponents and detractors of his economic policy, the latest USCIT ruling doesn’t entail a universal injunction, meaning only the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the US government will benefit from it. 

In this case, it’s spice seller Burlap & Barrel and toy company Basic Fun, along with the state of Washington. The state government was one of the 24 district attorneys challenging the tariffs, able to prove their state had paid or was set to pay the levies. In this case, says Reuters, evidence came from the University of Washington, a public research institution.

Plaintiffs will be exempt from paying new tariffs for the remainder of the sanctioned period, which is set to expire on July 24. The Court also ordered that the plaintiffs be refunded for the levies already paid, and was specific to include interests.

Section 122 of the US Trade Act allows the imposition of global tariffs up to 15 percent for a limited period of 150 days. The move, legal analysts explained, granted the White House enough time to solidify a more robust tariff policy using Section 301 of the Trade Act. 

The provision allows the US government to address unfair trade practices by other nations and sanction them. It usually involves months of thorough investigations and the lapse of comment periods, making it stronger in court than its predecessors, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

The Trump Administration already has two Section 301 investigations underway targeting nations with excess industrial manufacturing capacity and those that don’t sanction industries involved in forced labor. No legal action against those inquiries has been reported as of yet. 

*All images are referential.

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