A US court has blocked Trump’s tariffs. What does that mean for China?

A US court order blocking President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs marks a setback for the US leader, but is unlikely to provide China and other American trading partners with more than a temporary reprieve, analysts said.

The Trump administration has already filed an appeal to stop the tariff block with a Federal Circuit court, and even if that effort fails he could potentially reinstate the tariffs using other methods, they added.

A three-judge panel at the New York-based US Court of International Trade said in a joint verdict on Wednesday that Trump had overstepped his authority by using an emergency act to impose sweeping so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries on April 2.

Twelve US states and five American businesses filed lawsuits to block the executive actions, which were used to raise duties on Chinese goods by an eye-watering 145 percentage points after a series of tit-for-tat exchanges with Beijing.

The Trump administration later suspended most of the “reciprocal” tariffs – including those aimed at China – for 90 days pending negotiations with the target countries, but some stayed in effect and the threat of another hike in duties remained.

Wednesday’s ruling gives the US administration 10 days to quit collecting tariffs, though it does allow for refunds on duties already collected.