A panel of three federal judges, including one appointed by Ronald Reagan and one appointed by Donald Trump, ruled that import taxes imposed unilaterally by Donald Trump were not constitutional, and ordered them to be removed.
The panel noted that the Constitution gives Congress the sole right to levy taxes, and appeared to deny the legitimacy of Trump’s claims of a state of emergency.
Congress had tried to absolve itself of oversight by declaring the remainder of 2025 to be a single day, for legal purposes, in an attempt to bypass the mandatory congressional 30-day review of any import taxes imposed by the President.
The case was brought by a small number of small businesses hurt by the import taxes, or tariffs, which are paid by American customers on goods imported from every country but Russia, which was exempted.
The ruling is almost certain to be appealed to a higher court and possibly to the Supreme Court, keeping businesses uncertain about future import taxes. Congress could also legally vote to impose the same import taxes, bypassing the ruling. Likewise, the White House could ignore the ruling.
In the meantime, the ruling might be good news for workers at Brampton and for Stellantis as a whole, since every STLA Large vehicle is currently made in Canada or Mexico (the Detroit Complex could in theory make the entire range of vehicles), and product plans hinged on making STLA Medium vehicles in Brampton, Ontario, a plan apparently abandoned due to 25% import taxes. Those would make it cheaper to build a car in South Korea and import it to the United States from there.
Update: the ruling apparently affects national taxes but not “sector specific” taxes on items such as aluminum or steel, making it possible that cars and car parts can still be taxed at 25% or higher rates. This would keep the status quo for Stellantis’ large and medium-sized car factories, as well as their minivans. It will take some time for the specifics to become clear, and, again, the ruling can be appealed and overturned, or worked around.
David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest Mopar site (Allpar) in 1994. After a chemo-induced 2007-2010 break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales (Chrysler history and “permanent” car and truck pages). He most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the marque.
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