Trump sued over Canadian tariffs in latest legal challenge
The lawsuit argues the White House exceeded its authority in imposing the latest tariffs on the country and caused "immediate harm to American businesses".
Trump faces fresh legal challenge over Canadian tariffs
US President Donald Trump is confronting another court fight over tariffs after the group that won a case against his so-called "liberation day" import taxes filed a new lawsuit targeting the latest Canadian duties.
The White House introduced a 50% levy on about $20bn worth of Canadian goods after trade negotiations between the US and Canada collapsed in August.
The Liberty Justice Center brought the case on behalf of US food company Gellert Global Group, asking the US Court of International Trade to rule the tariffs unlawful and to require refunds with interest for importers affected.
According to the lawsuit, the White House went beyond its powers in imposing the tariffs and inflicted "immediate harm to American businesses".
Gellert Global Group is a third-generation family company that is paying 50% tariffs on cheese shipped from Canada. The New Jersey-based business is also dealing with retaliatory Canadian tariffs on American-made cheese it sells in Canada.
Co-chief executive Thomas Gellert said the company had spent generations developing ties with suppliers and customers in the food sector.
"These tariffs disrupt those relationships overnight and create costs and uncertainty that ripple through the entire supply chain," he said on Tuesday.
The Liberty Justice Center is contesting the administration's use of Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act to target Canadian goods ranging from wine to dairy products and hockey sticks.
That section of the nearly century-old law is intended to shield US business from foreign discrimination, but the legal group says it does not permit the executive branch "to impose sweeping tariffs or import restrictions whenever a trade dispute arises".
The lawsuit seeks to challenge the White House's reliance on retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada as the basis for its own duties under Section 338.
Canada has introduced a range of countermeasures against multiple US tariffs. Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney matched the Section 338 US tariffs "dollar for dollar" after Trump imposed them over what he called "unequal treatment" of US cars, dairy and alcohol.
The filing also says Section 338 requires a 30-day waiting period before levies can take effect, but the tariff on items including cheese was added to the list only a week before collection began.
Sara Albrecht, chief executive of the Liberty Justice Center, said the case was not about Trump personally but about the presidency.
"No president should have the power to pull a dormant statute off the shelf and use it to impose sweeping tariffs or import bans without the limits Congress required," she said.
The lawsuit says Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 has been replaced by Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
It also says that if Section 338 still applies, the White House has not shown the legal foundation for the broad tariffs against Canada.
"The case is not an objection to tariffs as such. It asks who has the power to impose them and whether the executive branch followed the law Congress wrote," the Liberty Justice Center said.
The legal group has also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the tariffs from being collected.
It is the fourth case the group has filed against Trump's tariffs, including its successful challenge to the sweeping tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which were struck down in February this year.
Albrecht said the group had brought all the cases for the same reason: "the Constitution gives tariff power to Congress. The executive branch cannot keep moving the same policy from one statute to another and pretend the limits disappear".