US Congressman calls Trump's tariffs 'illegal', urges legislative action

Gregory Meeks, senior Democrat and ranking member of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Saturday said that the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump are “illegal”, citing recent court rulings.

He reiterated that resolutions questioning the powers of the President on imposing these tariffs must be put through the legislative grind.

In a post on X, Meeks tagged a court order stating the tariffs have been declared illegal. He mentioned the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) used by Trump to impose tariffs and said the court said the IEEPA was not for imposing tariffs.

Meeks, a longtime advocate for strong India-US ties, stated: “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.”

“Speaker (Mike) Johnson must stop covering for Trump’s lawlessness and put my resolutions on the floor to end the tariffs,” he said.

Meeks had earlier moved a resolution questioning the power of the President in evoking the IEEPA to impose tariffs.

He posted court documents which showed that the Court of International Trade had set aside five executive orders that imposed tariffs of unlimited duration on nearly all goods from nearly every country in the world, holding that the tariffs were not authorised by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The US Government appealed in the higher court called the ‘United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’ which has said it agrees that IEEPA’s grant of presidential authority to “regulate” imports do not authorise the tariffs imposed by the executive orders.

The US Court said for many years, the Congress has carefully constructed tariff schedules which provide for, in great detail, the tariffs to be imposed on particular goods.

Since taking office, Trump has declared several national emergencies. In response to these declared emergencies, the President has departed from the established tariff schedules and imposed varying tariffs of unlimited duration on imports of nearly all goods from nearly every country with which the United States conducts trade.