By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) – U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday the Trump administration expects to prevail in an appeal of the Court of International Trade’s ruling against its temporary 10% global tariffs to replace duties struck down by the Supreme Court.
Greer told Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” program that the Court of International Trade made a flawed decision in its 2-1 ruling that Trump’s tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 were inappropriate.
The statute allows temporary tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days to correct “large and serious” U.S. balance of payments deficits. But the court said this scenario did not apply to trade deficits.
“They essentially said that Congress passed a law that can’t be used, which we all know in the legal community, that’s not how law should be interpreted,” Greer said. “They should be interpreted to be used. So we’re confident that on appeal we’ll be successful.”
The Trump administration has not yet formally appealed the decision, which leaves the temporary tariffs in place for all but the plaintiffs while the appeal process plays out.
The Section 122 duties were put in place immediately after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s broadest and deepest global tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in February, and are expected to expire in July.
Greer, a veteran trade lawyer, said the Court of International Trade judges voting in the majority “are apparently just hell-bent on importing from China.”
That court last year in its initial ruling against Trump’s IEEPA tariffs said Section 122 was another law on the books that could be used for tariffs, Greer noted. Although the ruling did not specify the circumstances under which the statute could be used, Greer said Thursday’s ruling contradicted the May 2025 opinion.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)
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