Small Businesses Sue Trump Over Tariffs in U.S. Court of International Trade
A group of small U.S. businesses is suing President Donald Trump over his recent wave of tariffs, arguing that he has overstepped his authority by using emergency powers to impose new taxes on imports.
Filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, the lawsuit claims Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify the tariffs is unconstitutional, since the law was never meant to let presidents impose duties on their own. “No one person should have the power to impose taxes that have such vast global economic consequences,” said Jeffrey Schwab of the Liberty Justice Center, the group representing the businesses.
The companies — which range from wine importers to makers of cycling gear and educational kits — say the tariffs are crushing their bottom lines and that Trump’s argument about trade deficits creating a “national emergency” doesn’t hold up. The lawsuit insists the president’s claim of an emergency is “a figment of his own imagination” and accuses him of “usurping Congress’s right to control tariffs.”
The White House is standing firm, with spokesperson Harrison Fields defending the move as necessary to stop the U.S. from being “exploited” by trading partners like China. “His plan levels the playing field for businesses and workers to address our country’s national emergency of chronic trade deficits,” Fields said. This lawsuit joins another in Florida, where businesses are also challenging the tariffs, calling them a violation of the Constitution’s separation of powers.
