A conservative legal group has gone to court to try to derail Donald Trump’s latest barrage of tariffs on Chinese imports, arguing the former president crossed a constitutional line by invoking emergency powers for economic ends.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed the case in a Florida federal court, calling Trump’s latest move—slapping a 34% tariff on Chinese goods atop the 20% already imposed earlier this year—a misuse of authority. The group says Trump bypassed Congress and weaponized the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law meant for national security threats, not trade wars.
Trump’s justification? He framed it as a crackdown on China’s alleged role in the opioid crisis. The lawsuit says that’s a thin cover for an economic agenda: shrinking the trade deficit and boosting revenue through unilateral tariffs.
“This isn’t about fentanyl—it’s about flipping the Constitution on its head,” said the group’s litigation counsel, who accused Trump of trampling Congress’s exclusive right to regulate tariffs. The legal team says the law Trump relied on was never meant to authorize sweeping duties like these.
The NCLA filed the case on behalf of a Florida-based home goods retailer, Simplified, arguing that the new tariff schedule threatens businesses and violates trade statutes that demand evidence, investigations, and a clear link between authority and action.
The case has landed in the courtroom of Judge Kent Wetherell—himself a Trump appointee—who’s no stranger to high-stakes political cases. Just two years ago, he blocked a key piece of Joe Biden’s immigration policy.
As of now, the White House has stayed silent, offering no comment. But one thing is clear: this legal fight isn’t just about China or steel coils at Shanghai ports—it’s about the limits of presidential power and whether emergency laws can be stretched into tools of economic warfare.
