President Donald Trump is waging a trade war without getting approval from Congress: He declared a national emergency to slap import taxes — tariffs — on almost every country on earth.

By Dietrich Knauth, Blake Brittain NEW YORK (Reuters) -Five American small businesses asked a U.S. court on Tuesday to halt President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, arguing that he overstepped his powers by declaring a national emergency to impose across-the-board taxes on imports from nations that sell more to the United States than they buy.

Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on China if the two countries failed to reach a trade deal in 90 days, but would stop short of ratcheting them back up to 145 per cent. Trump increased the additional tariffs he was applying to all Chinese imports to 145 per cent last month,