The lawsuit was filed by the nonpartisan Center for Free Justice on behalf of five small businesses that import goods from tariff target countries. Businesses range from wine and spirits importers in New York to manufacturers of educational tools and musical instruments in Virginia.
The lawsuit challenges Trump’s tariffs on April 2 “Liberation Day” and his respective responsibilities on China.
“No one should have the right to impose taxes with such huge global economic consequences,” Jeffrey Schwab, senior legal counsel at the Center for Free Justice, said in a statement. “The Constitution gives Congress the power to tax rates, including tariffs, not the president.”
White House spokesman Harrison Fields defended Trump’s tariffs in a statement.
“There has never been an exaggerated person who always opposes him, but President Trump supports the streets by ending our trading partners, especially China, and the U.S. exploitation plan is a competitive environment for businesses and workers to address the national chronic trade deficit emergency in our country,” Fields said. The Trump administration faces similar lawsuits in Florida federal court, where small business owners ask judges to block tariffs imposed on China. Trump imposed 10% tariffs on goods in all countries, and the government said that national tariffs on U.S. imports were higher, and he later suspended them for 90 days.
The president’s executive order invokes laws, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president special powers to combat abnormal or extraordinary threats from the United States
The Free Justice Center said in a lawsuit Monday that the law does not give the president the power to impose tariffs.
“There is no precedent for imposing tariffs using the IEPA. There is no other president’s authority to do this or have claimed to do so,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit calls on the court to block the enforcement of tariffs and declares Trump lacks the power to impose on them.
The New York-based Court of International Trade is a U.S. federal court with extensive jurisdiction over most trade-related matters.
