A US federal appeals court has ordered the Trump administration to halt construction of the US president’s $400m White House ballroom, in a fresh blow to the controversial project.

Donald Trump, who demolished the historic East Wing of the White House last year to make way for planned ballroom, has repeatedly touted it as “a gift” to the US people.

But in a major setback in a case testing ⁠his presidential authority, the Washington-based US ⁠court of ​appeals for the District of Columbia circuit upheld a preliminary injunction in a divided 2-1 order on Friday.