Lawsuit against 50% tariffs on Canadian goods: importer goes to US trade court
A cheese importer argues Trump's use of a 1930 law is unlawful. It wants the tariffs on goods worth around 20 billion dollars struck down.
Archive image · Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped and resized)
US President Donald Trump must defend his 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods in court. Food importer Gellert Global Group filed suit on Tuesday at the US Court of International Trade in New York, backed by the Liberty Justice Center. The tariffs initially covered goods worth around 20 billion dollars and were later expanded. Since September they have also covered speciality cheeses on which Gellert depends. The plaintiff wants the tariffs struck down, their collection blocked and payments refunded.
Trump bases the tariffs on Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. According to the plaintiffs, the provision has not been used to impose tariffs in the 96 years since it was enacted and has been superseded by later laws. "No president should have the power to pull a dormant statute off the shelf," said Sara Albrecht of the Liberty Justice Center. Canada retaliated with counter-tariffs in September, after which the US imposed import bans on goods such as motorcycles. In February, the Supreme Court had already struck down other Trump tariffs based on an emergency powers law.