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President Trump’s new tariffs were hit with a legal challenge Friday from two small businesses who are represented by part of the legal team that toppled Trump’s earlier tariffs at the Supreme Court.
The new surcharge, between 10 percent and 12.5 percent on goods imported from 60 trading partners, is the administration’s latest attempt to unilaterally impose the president’s tariff agenda under existing laws.
Just like the previous statutes Trump invoked, the lawsuit argues the administration is now stretching Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 too far.
“It is not a freestanding authorization to tax substantially all imports from substantially all trading partners,” the lawsuit reads.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
The administration announced the Section 301 tariffs on Thursday, just as the president’s previous ones were expiring, which were put in place under a temporary authority.
Tariffs under Section 301 can last longer, but they must be in response to unfair trade practices that are found to restrict the nation’s commerce. The administration conducted a monthslong investigation into forced labor practices overseas, which included extensive public comments and two rounds of hearings.
The lawsuit claims that’s a pretext. It also argues that U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer’s announcement needed to take a “country-specific” approach.
“Section 301 does not permit USTR to substitute a generalized assertion that forced labor is harmful, unfair, or economically distortive worldwide for the statute’s required determination concerning an identified foreign act, policy, or practice and its burden or restriction on United States commerce,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit is brought by spice and e-commerce business Burlap & Barrel and high-end watch retailer Collective Horology.
They are represented by the Liberty Justice Center. The libertarian public-interest firm has long been challenging Trump’s tariff agenda in court. It was part of the team that defeated his earlier, emergency tariffs at the Supreme Court earlier this year.
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