A federal appeals court in the United States on Friday ruled that President Donald Trump had overstepped his authority to impose the so-called reciprocal tariffs under an emergency powers statute, NBC reported.

The tariffs were illegal as only the legislative branch of the government, the Congress, has the power to enforce such sweeping measures, the court said.

However, the judges allowed the tariffs to remain in place till October 14 to give the Trump administration time to file an appeal in the Supreme Court, Reuters reported.

Responding to the ruling, Trump said on Friday that the “highly partisan” appeals court had “incorrectly said that our tariffs should be removed”. He vowed to fight the ruling in the Supreme Court.

The ruling affects two sets of tariffs the US president has imposed.

The first are the reciprocal tariffs imposed separately for dozens of countries, including India. These range from the baseline 10% for some countries to the 34% rate imposed on China.

Trump’s tariffs had taken effect on April 9. Hours later, however, he reduced the rates on imports from most countries to 10% for 90 days to provide time for trade negotiations. Washington has been negotiating separate trade deals with several trading partners to extract economic concessions.

The US president had repeatedly said he intended to impose a reciprocal tax on several nations citing high tariffs the countries impose on foreign goods.

The tariff plans have led to concerns of a broader trade war that could disrupt the global economy and trigger a recession.

It also affects the 25% levy the US president imposed on select goods imported from Canada, China and Mexico citing what the Trump administration claimed was a failure of those nations to curb the flow of fentanyl, NBC reported.

The ruling does not cover other tariffs imposed by Washington, such as 50% levies on steel and aluminium, under other laws (1974 Trade Act and the 1962 Trade Expansion Act).

On Friday, Trump said on social media that if the tariffs went scrapped based on the court’s decision, “it would be a total disaster” for the US.

“It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong,” Trump said. “The USA will no longer tolerate enormous trade deficits and unfair tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers imposed by other countries, friend or foe, that undermine our manufacturers, farmers and everyone else.”

The Trump administration had announced on August 6 that it would double the tariffs on goods imported from India to 50% for purchasing Russian oil amid the Ukraine war. A 25% so-called reciprocal tariff had already taken effect.

Trump has repeatedly alleged that India’s imports were fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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