An appeals court on Thursday scrutinized President Trump’s assertion that emergency powers justify his worldwide tariffs. Thursday’s high-stakes oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit came one day ahead of Trump’s deadline for dozens of countries to strike trade deals or face higher “reciprocal” duties.

A panel of appeals court judges bombarded a Trump administration attorney Thursday with pointed questions about the president’s use of emergency powers to levy reciprocal tariffs on dozens