Trump is not a king: Tariff ruling a win for US democracy and Albanese

Donald Trump may be president of the United States, but he is not an all-powerful ruler. That’s the message a panel of US federal judges has delivered by ruling that Trump was not authorised to impose his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on dozens of countries.

The verdict by the US Court of International Trade is a win for the rule of law and, by extension, American democracy. Yes, Trump is pushing the boundaries of the presidency in often alarming ways, but there are still bollards blocking him from crashing through the constitutional order.

A US court has found that President Donald Trump was not authorised to impose his “Liberation Day” policies. Credit: AP

In their ruling, the judges applied common sense, demolishing Trump’s claim that vague national security concerns justify presidential tariffs on virtually every country in the world, including allies such as Australia. The judges stressed they were not opposed to tariffs on policy grounds but because Trump had improperly invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose them.

Inconveniently for Trump, the law in question doesn’t even mention tariffs. The judges also pointed out another inconvenience: the US Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the exclusive authority to regulate commerce with other countries. The Republicans who control Congress are largely terrified of Trump’s base and have ceded much of their authority to him, but the judiciary continues to exert its independence.

The ruling is also a victory for governments around the world which have been scrambling to navigate how to respond to Trump’s tariff threats. At least for now, the court has stripped Trump, who prides himself as a master dealmaker, of leverage required to pressure foreign leaders to make major concessions to the US. Trump’s lawyers argued that any injunction would be “extremely disruptive” while the president is in the middle of foreign negotiations over the tariffs, a claim dismissed by the court.

This will embolden Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as he prepares to meet Trump for the first time next month, either on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada or during a separate trip to the US. Already riding high after his landslide election victory – a result he owes, in part, to Trump’s unpopularity in Australia – Albanese does not need to grovel or kowtow to his counterpart.

Anything he offers Trump, including on access to critical minerals, should be made on its own merits and because it is in Australia’s national interest, not as a bargaining chip to secure an exemption to the now-suspended 10 per cent baseline tariff. Especially as the “TACO” jibe – Trump always chickens out – becomes increasingly used on Wall Street to describe his on-again-off-again tariff threats.

Trade Minister Don Farrell said Australia would continue to urge Trump to abandon his tariffs altogether. “The Albanese government has been consistent in the view that these tariffs on Australian imports into the US are unjustified,” Farrell said. “We will continue to engage and strongly advocate for the removal of tariffs.”

An important caveat is that the court’s ruling does not apply to Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. This means Albanese still has an incentive to strike an agreement for these imposts to be removed from Australian metals.

Trump eliminated tariffs on British steel and aluminium in a trade deal with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer this month, establishing a precedent for Albanese to achieve a similar outcome when he meets Trump.

The White House is appealing against the decision, but defeat could ultimately turn out to be a win for Trump as well. Above all else, Trump’s gyrations on trade policy explain why his popularity has nosedived since he came to office.

As Albanese says, tariffs are an act of economic self-harm: American consumers and businesses have understandably blanched at the idea of paying more for products imported from overseas. If the court provides Trump an exit ramp from his tariff follies, it will have saved him from himself.

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