Irish Examiner view: Trump tariff plan in disarray just as his biggest cheerleader exits

Billionaire Tesla and X owner Elon Musk left Trump's administration just before its tariff plans become embroiled in US courts 

US president Donald Trump looks on as Elon Musk speaks — with his son X Æ A-Xii on his shoulders — in the Oval Office of the White House on February 11. Picture: Alex Brandon/AP

Readers may be forgiven for imagining that they hear the high squeal of brakes drifting across the Atlantic, with news that US president Donald Trump’s controversial tariff programme has been stopped and declared illegal by an American court.

The US Court of International Trade in New York found that the legislation cited by Mr Trump as the basis for imposing massive increases in tariffs — the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act — does not, in fact, authorise the use of tariffs.