The rulings against the levies in two federal courts – the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. -- centered on Trump's unprecedented invocation of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act as a legal justification for tariffs.

They include the "fentanyl tariffs" that Trump imposed at the outset of his second term, the "reciprocal" tariffs he announced on April 9 (which so far have extended only to China) and the de minimis tariffs on low-cost imports from China.

The president called the prominent judicial activist Leonard Leo a “real ‘sleazebag’ ” and said the Federalist Society led him astray in his first term.