DENVER — DENVER — The sigh of relief for small business owners was short-lived Thursday after an appeals court halted a federal court ruling just hours earlier that would have stopped President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs.
The pause comes in response to a ruling by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, which concluded that Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority and issued an injunction.
"The U.S. Court of International Trade incredibly ruled against the United States of America on desperately needed Tariffs but, fortunately, the full 11 Judge Panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Court has just stayed the order by the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade," President Trump said in a statement. "Where do these initial three Judges come from? How is it possible for them to have potentially done such damage to the United States of America? Is it purely a hatred of “TRUMP?” What other reason could it be?"
"Backroom “hustlers” must not be allowed to destroy our Nation!" the president added. "The horrific decision stated that I would have to get the approval of Congress for these Tariffs. In other words, hundreds of politicians would sit around D.C. for weeks, and even months, trying to come to a conclusion as to what to charge other Countries that are treating us unfairly. If allowed to stand, this would completely destroy Presidential Power — The Presidency would never be the same!"
National
Federal appeals court revives most of Trump’s tariffs — for now
Denver7 anchor Jessica Porter heard from Denver small business owner Colin Shattuck, who runs Sportique Scooters on South Broadway, about his experience with the tariffs so far.
“Uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty — that's the key word in all of this, because nobody knows from one day to the next,” Shattuck said.
Many of the scooters sold at Sportique are manufactured in Asia and Europe. He has seen tariffs double the price of a scooter part coming from Europe that was manufactured in China.
Shattuck said planning around tariffs has trickled into every part of his day.
“The more you stock up in anticipation of future price increases, the greater your transportation costs become, the greater your storage costs become. So it's a very sensitive game,” Shattuck said.
Meanwhile, just down South Broadway, Dave Moore, the owner of Davino Wine and Spirits, has taken a wait-and-see approach to tariffs.
“I haven't seen any price changes whatsoever yet, and that's because a lot of the importers and distributors bought big and have a lot of supply state-side,” Moore said.
Moore explained that importers and distributors for wine and spirits have been absorbing the costs of the tariffs so far, but that can’t continue forever.
“When it does change, it's going to be slow and brand by brand, bottle by bottle. You know, it's not going to be a huge tidal wave of, okay, everything's more expensive now,” he said.
Moore said he experienced how tariffs affected the price of Scotch a few years ago, and that became permanent.
“It took over a period of six months to a year for the prices to change, and then they haven't gone back,” he said.
The ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit allows Trump to continue to collect tariffs while the case plays out in court. Meanwhile, small business owners know there is always the chance the president could increase the tariffs or, once again, completely back off from implementing them.
That uncertainty has affected consumer confidence, and Shattuck said the scooter industry has seen sales drop by about a third compared to this time last year.
“People don't know what's happening, and so what they're doing is they're being very cautious with how they spend their money,” Shattuck said.
