Trump Invokes Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) to Impose Unprecedented Reciprocal Tariffs

President Trump declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) to impose sweeping ‘reciprocal tariffs,’ marking the first time in IEEPA’s 48-year history that a president used the emergency statute—designed for genuine national security threats like wars and terrorism—to implement trade policy. Trump claimed the $1.2 trillion U.S. trade deficit in 2024 constituted a national emergency caused by ‘absence of reciprocity in trade relationships’ and ‘harmful policies like currency manipulation and exorbitant value-added taxes.’ Effective April 5, 2025, Trump imposed a baseline 10% tariff on nearly all countries, with 57 countries facing higher rates beginning April 9. The executive order, titled ‘Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices,’ invoked IEEPA authority to bypass congressional approval required under normal trade law. Legal experts and trade scholars condemned the move as an unprecedented abuse of emergency powers, noting no president had used IEEPA for tariffs since its enactment, and that trade deficits are routine economic phenomena, not national emergencies. Federal courts subsequently ruled the tariffs illegal, though they remained in effect through appeals. The Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments for November 2025 in Learning Resources v. Trump, consolidated challenges to IEEPA tariff authority. The use of IEEPA for ordinary trade policy established dangerous precedent for executive overreach, allowing presidents to unilaterally impose economic policy through manufactured emergency declarations without congressional oversight or judicial review during prolonged appeals.