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US President Donald Trump is facing a new legal challenge over tariffs after the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit contesting the latest duties on Canadian goods. The group previously brought a successful case against his so-called “Liberation Day” import taxes, BBC World reported.
The White House imposed a 50% tariff on about $20bn worth of Canadian goods after trade talks between the US and Canada broke down in August. The new lawsuit, filed on behalf of US food business “Gellert Global Group”, asks the US Court of International Trade to rule the tariffs unlawful and order refunds with interest for affected importers.
The complaint says the White House exceeded its authority and caused “immediate harm to American businesses”. The White House has been contacted for comment.
“Gellert Global Group” is a third-generation family business that pays 50% tariffs on cheese exported from Canada. The New Jersey-based company also faces Canadian retaliatory tariffs on American-made cheese it sells in Canada.
Co-chief executive Thomas Gellert said the company had spent generations building relationships with suppliers and customers in the food industry. “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 challenging the administration’s use of Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to impose duties on Canadian products ranging from wine and dairy to hockey sticks. The group argues that the provision, intended to protect US businesses from foreign discrimination, does not authorize the executive branch “to impose sweeping tariffs or import restrictions whenever a trade dispute arises”.
The lawsuit also challenges the White House’s reliance on Canadian retaliatory tariffs to justify its own duties under Section 338. Canada has introduced a series of countermeasures against US tariffs. Last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney matched the US Section 338 tariffs “dollar for dollar” after Trump imposed them over what he called “unequal treatment” of US cars, dairy and alcohol.
The complaint says Section 338 requires a 30-day waiting period before tariffs can be imposed. It argues that cheese and other products were added to the list only a week before tariff collection began.
“Liberty Justice Center” chief executive Sara Albrecht 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 argues that Section 338 has been superseded by Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. It also says that, if Section 338 remains in force, the White House has not established a legal basis for the broad tariffs on 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 group has also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block collection of the tariffs.
This is the group’s fourth lawsuit against Trump’s tariffs. Its cases include a successful challenge to broad tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which were struck down in February this year.
Albrecht said the group had brought each case 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”.
