Federal government lawyers appeared to be hard-pressed to define the limits of President Donald Trump’s trade powers during a Tuesday hearing over his so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs, with one U.S. Court of International Trade judge asking hypothetically if Trump could use a peanut butter shortage as a reason to issue more tariffs.
Judge Jane Restani offered her peanut butter hypothetical while pushing the U.S. Department of Justice’s Eric Hamilton to explain what standards the court could employ to evaluate whether Trump had properly invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.