A United States appeals court's decision to declare most of the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump illegal represents a serious judicial setback for the Republican administration. It not only jeopardizes its ambitious plan to fatten the state coffers with taxes on most of the countries with which it trades, but also calls into question the foreign policy of the current administration, which has resorted to tariffs as a means of pressure to impose its policies in different parts of the world, such as Brazil and India. However, the ruling does not immediately block the taxes but keeps them in force until mid-October, giving the government time to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The verdict also sends a strong message to the autocratic winds blowing from the White House. The appeals court judges' decision—by a majority of seven votes to four—to declare the tariffs unlawful, concluding that it is within the power of Congress to intervene in matters of state like taxes, not just the US president. As Neal Katyal, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, explained,"Today the court, by an overwhelming majority and in a 7 to 4 decision, rejected President Trump's notion that he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants."

The ruling found that Trump overstepped his authority by invoking a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), to impose the special rates on foreign countries. It affects a series of April executive orders that imposed base tariffs of 10 percent on virtually all countries and higher"reciprocal" tariffs on dozens of trading partners. It also applies to a separate set of tariffs on products from Canada, Mexico, and China to pressure those three countries to crack down on fentanyl trafficking and unauthorized immigration.

Trump not only considers it a personal affront but a dangerous decision for the interests of his highly politicized country, in his own words."If allowed to stand, this decision would literally destroy the United States of America," he wrote on his social network, Truth. Along the same lines, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated that permanently halting the tariffs would cause"irreparable damage" to the US and pose a significant risk to the trade agreements that have already been reached with the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

In a statement, the White House defended Trump's policies."President Trump legitimately exercised the tariff powers granted to him by Congress to defend our national and economic security from foreign threats," said spokesman Kush Desai."The president's tariffs remain in place, and we look forward to a definitive victory in this matter."

For her part, US Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed to appeal the ruling, which she said"undermines the United States on the world stage" and "interferes with the president's vital and constitutionally central role in foreign policy."

It's a partial resolution to a dispute that began months ago, shortly after Trump declared April 2nd as"Liberation Day" from the White House, clipboard in hand, outlining his new tariffs on all countries except Russia, with a minimum of 10% for each. Democratic states and small businesses reacted with a legal challenge to the decision, which sent stock markets plummeting that day and which he suspended shortly after seeing the global turmoil it was causing. Since then, his team has begun negotiating agreements with different countries to lower those initial tariffs.

Now everything rests in the hands of a Supreme Court with a majority of conservative judges (6 to 3) who tend to side with Trump's interests. The president himself is counting on this."With the help of the Supreme Court, we will use them (the tariffs) to benefit our nation, and make America rich, strong, and powerful again," he wrote on his social media account.