By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. federal court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s tariffs against a group of small businesses to remain in force for now, saying the businesses had not shown they would immediately be harmed by new taxes on imports.
A group of five companies sued the Trump administration last week, in one of five lawsuits arguing that the president had overstepped his authority when he imposed sweeping tariffs on foreign trading partners.
The small businesses had asked for a temporary restraining order to immediately block the tariffs, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the tariffs can remain in place while the lawsuit proceeds. The panel will instead hear arguments over a proposed longer-term pause for the tariffs at a May 6 court hearing in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Court of International Trade’s decision was the first ruling on whether the tariffs should be put on hold during the court challenges.
The Liberty Justice Center, a nonpartisan legal group that represents the small business plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday.
Trump imposed new tariffs on April 2, saying that the U.S. trade deficit was a “national emergency” that justified a 10% across-the-board tariff on all imports, with higher tariff rates for countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits, particularly on China.
The tariffs have shocked U.S. markets and been criticized by other nations, investors, U.S. businesses and trade groups. Trump and members of his administration have said that the tariffs will bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. even if they cause short-term pain in the economy.
The U.S. Court of International Trade lawsuit was filed on behalf of five small U.S. businesses that import goods from countries targeted by the tariffs. The businesses range from a New York wine and spirits importer to a Virginia-based maker of educational kits and musical instruments.
The Trump administration faces a similar lawsuits filed by the State of California, members of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana, a paper goods business in Florida, and a company that makes educational toys in Washington D.C. The administration has argued that those cases should be consolidated in the U.S. Court of International Trade.
(Reporting by Dietrich KnauthEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
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