Former U.S. President Donald Trump responded to a recent ruling by a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals issued last Friday, which stated that the President does not have the legal authority to impose broad tariffs, vowing to continue doing so.

Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: “If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will literally destroy the United States of America,” according to the American news network Euronews.

The court found that Trump exceeded his authority under the Emergency Powers Act.

The news network noted that the ruling will keep the tariffs Trump imposed on nearly all U.S. trading partners in effect until October, including those previously applied to China, Mexico, and Canada.

However, the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals kept the tariffs in place until mid-October, allowing the Trump administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Friday ruling represents a significant legal setback, largely supporting a decision made by a specialized federal trade court in New York last May. It complicates Trump’s ambitions to radically overturn decades of U.S. trade policy on his own. Trump’s tariff definitions and their irregular application shook global markets, alienated U.S. trading partners and allies, and raised concerns about rising prices and slower economic growth.

Trump justified the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 by declaring the longstanding U.S. trade deficit a “national emergency,” claiming extraordinary authority to act without Congress’s approval.

It is worth noting that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to set taxes, including tariffs. However, lawmakers have gradually allowed presidents to assume more authority over tariffs—a power Trump fully exploited.