August 13, 2026 3:42 PM, EDT
Trump touted the ruling as a “BIG WIN” in a post on Truth Social. (Kena Betancur/Bloomberg)
A U.S. trade court has rejected a challenge to President Donald Trump’s suspension of a longstanding tariff exemption for low-dollar imports.
In a decision on Aug. 13, the court refused to disturb the president’s executive orders over the past year that lifted what’s known as the “de minimis” exemption for goods with a retail value of $800 or less. Trump’s suspension of the carve-out had led to more than $1 billion in duty payments by the end of 2025, according to Customs and Border Protection.
The ruling from the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade provides a boost to Trump’s trade agenda, which has faced a slew of legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the president’s use of an emergency economic powers law to impose global tariffs. The trade court declared his subsequent attempt at ordering sweeping levies under a different authority unlawful, but an appeals court recently ruled that the government was likely to win in defending that policy.
Trump touted the ruling as a “BIG WIN” in a post on Truth Social.
The legal fight over the duty exception for low-cost goods had been on hold for the past year as the other tariff-related litigation played out. U.S.-based auto parts distributor Detroit Axle, which brought the lawsuit, argued that Trump unlawfully overrode Congress when he halted the exemption. Last summer, the trade court denied the company’s request to restore the carve-out while the litigation went forward.
Detroit Axle next could challenge the trade court panel’s decision before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Congress voted last year to permanently get rid of the exemption, but that won’t take effect until 2027. Detroit Axle’s lawyer argued that lawmakers adopted a longer timeline to give businesses time to prepare, and that it served as proof that Congress hadn’t intended to give the president the power to immediately halt it on his own.
The case involves the same law that was at issue in the global tariff fight that Trump lost before the Supreme Court, the International Economic Emergency Powers Act. Detroit Axle argued that the justices’ findings that the law didn’t give Trump the power to impose those duties should also apply to the de minimis exemption suspension, because it would have the effect of creating additional tariff obligations for importers.
The Justice Department argued that lifting a suspension on tariffs that were already in effect was not the same as ordering new ones. The government pointed to text within the emergency powers act that gave the president power to “nullify, void, prevent, or prohibit” the exercise of a “privilege” related to property, arguing that language provided Trump with a legal foundation to halt the exemption.
The case is Axle of Dearborn v. Department of Commerce, 25-cv-91, U.S. Court of International Trade (New York).