India not responsible for Ukraine conflict: American Jewish group

After a US court questioned the legality of Donald Trump-imposed tariffs, Gregory Meeks, a powerful pro-India member of the Congress, on Saturday launched a legislative challenge to curb Trump’s powers to impose such tariffs.

In a separate development, the American Jewish Committee (AJC), an NGO, said it was “deeply troubled” by the growing criticism of India by US officials. “The latest being a White House Adviser Peter Navarro’s scurrilous charge that Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine is Modi’s war.”

“India isn’t responsible for Putin’s war crimes. It is a sister democracy, an increasingly important US strategic partner and has a crucial role to play. It’s time to reset this vital relationship,” the AJC said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, tagging the court order, Congressman Meeks, the ranking member — the most senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, posted on X that the tariffs imposed by President Trump were illegal. He reiterated that resolutions questioning presidential powers to impose tariffs must go through the legislative process.

Referring to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) invoked by Trump, Meeks pointed out that the court had made it clear the IEEPA was not intended for imposing tariffs.

“Both trial and appellate courts told Trump his tariffs are illegal, as I argued in amicus briefs with my colleagues. IEEPA’s not a tariff statute,” Meeks said. He added: “Speaker (Mike) Johnson must stop covering for Trump’s lawlessness and put my resolutions on the floor to end the tariffs.”

Court documents posted by Meeks showed that the Court of International Trade had struck down five executive orders that imposed tariffs of unlimited duration on nearly all goods from nearly every country, ruling that the IEEPA did not authorise such measures.

The US Government appealed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which upheld the lower court’s ruling, affirming that IEEPA’s grant of presidential authority to “regulate” imports did not extend to imposing tariffs.

The court noted that for decades the Congress has carefully constructed detailed tariff schedules. By declaring national emergencies, President Trump had departed from these schedules and imposed sweeping tariffs of indefinite duration on imports from nearly all US trading partners.