2nd LD Writethru: Trump signs order modifying tariff rates with 69 trading partners amid criticism, lawsuits

NEW YORK, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order further modifying tariff rates with 69 trading partners while his tariff policies and handling of trade deals resulted in criticism and lawsuits at home.

The order hereby imposes "additional ad valorem duties on goods of certain trading partners."

Most of the new tariff rates range from 10 percent to 40 percent, according to an annex to the release from the White House.

The new tariff rates will take effect seven days after the date of the executive order with exceptions on logistical grounds.

Trump noted in the executive order that some U.S. trading partners, despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that do not sufficiently address imbalances in trade relationships or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security matters.

"There are also some trading partners that have failed to engage in negotiations with the United States or to take adequate steps to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security matters," Trump said.

Certain trading partners, which have agreed to, or are on the verge of concluding, meaningful trade and security agreements with the United States, will remain subject to the new tariffs until those agreements are concluded and memorialized, according to the release.

For those trading partners not included in Annex I to the executive order, their goods will be subject to 10 percent of baseline tariffs in the United States unless otherwise expressly provided, according to the release.

According to the order, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security, together with other senior officials, shall publish every six months a list of countries and specific facilities used in circumvention schemes, to inform public procurement, national security reviews, and commercial due diligence.

In addition, major governmental agencies are directed and authorized to take all necessary actions and to employ all powers granted to the U.S. president by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to implement and effectuate this order, consistent with applicable law, including through temporary suspension or amendment of regulations or notices.

In the past days, Trump announced deals with a few trading partners such as the European Union, Britain, Japan and South Korea, and unilaterally set rates on others including India and Brazil.

Trump's handling of such trade deals and his use of emergency powers to impose tariffs on trading partners face criticism and lawsuits in the United States.

Some Senate Democrats Thursday railed against the Trump administration's patchwork of tariffs at a press conference ahead of Friday's trade deal deadline.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that Trump's trade deals are "all talk, no substance, and raising costs for the average American."

Schumer said that the tariffs are a "trade war on the American people," and that there has been "chaos and uncertainty" and "no one knows what's coming when Donald Trump has no plan, no strategy, and he's not honest about what he presents."

Senator Tim Kaine pointed to his plan to file legislation challenging the announced tariff rate on Brazil. He said that the tariffs are being imposed on "a nation where the U.S. has a trade surplus, not a trade deficit, because his friend is being prosecuted."

Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate finance committee, warned that the administration's handling of trade deal announcements is a "recipe for corruption."

Wyden said Wednesday that he was working with other lawmakers to propose "straightforward legislation to clarify that the President's emergency powers can't be used to put tariffs on the things Americans buy from other countries."

Trump has claimed that he has the power to impose a vast array of new tariffs under the IEEPA. However, a federal appeals court appeared skeptical Thursday of arguments from a Justice Department lawyer defending Trump's global tariff regime.

With an underway appeal of a lower court ruling that Trump exceeded his authority to put some of his most aggressive tariffs in place, judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit are expressing significant skepticism that Trump can levy tariffs using emergency powers, CNN reported on Thursday.

While Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate is making his case for why Trump should be able to impose tariffs on specific trading partners using emergency economic powers, one judge Raymond Chen questioned: "Can the trade deficit be an extraordinary and unusual threat when we have had trade deficits for decades?" Enditem