Containers at Pyeongtaek Port in Gyeonggi Province [Yonhap News photo]

An appellate court has temporarily halted the implementation of a lower court's ruling that deemed the 10% global tariffs imposed by the Trump administration illegal, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated retaliatory tariffs.

According to Reuters, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the 12th (local time) issued a temporary stay on the enforcement of the U.S. Court of International Trade's (CIT) ruling that the 10% global tariffs, imposed by the Trump administration in February under Section 122 of the Trade Act, were illegal.

The Federal Circuit has directed the parties involved in the lawsuit to submit their opinions promptly regarding the Trump administration's request to continue collecting tariffs while the appeal is pending.

This court decision means that the collection of the 10% global tariffs will continue, reported Bloomberg. Small and medium-sized businesses that filed the lawsuit are required to submit their opinions within a week.

The CIT's ruling, which found the imposition of 10% global tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act to be illegal, was issued on the 7th.

The CIT determined that Section 122 of the Trade Act was intended to address balance of payments deficits, and that the Trump administration had invoked it while confusing balance of payments with trade deficits.

However, the CIT limited the scope of the lower court's ruling to only two U.S. small and medium-sized businesses and the state of Washington.

The Trump administration appealed the ruling the following day, the 8th. The Trump administration argued that if the lower court's ruling were to take immediate effect, thousands of other importers who have been paying tariffs would file lawsuits in succession.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in February that the imposition of retaliatory tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) was illegal, the Trump administration initially imposed the 10% global tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act as a "substitute tariff."

As these tariffs can only be maintained for 150 days until late July, the Trump administration plans to ultimately fill the gap in retaliatory tariffs by introducing new tariffs through investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act. Currently, the Trump administration is conducting investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act in two areas: overproduction and forced labor.