In a sharp rebuke to former President Donald Trump’s newly reimposed global tariffs, a coalition of five small American businesses has taken the fight to the U.S. Court of International Trade, calling his recent trade crackdown not only bad policy—but unconstitutional.
The suit, filed by the Liberty Justice Center, claims Trump had no legal basis for his April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs, a sweeping set of import taxes targeting a wide range of foreign goods. The plaintiffs include a New York-based wine and spirits importer, a Virginia company crafting educational kits and musical instruments, and other small firms that rely on goods from countries now facing stiff U.S. duties.
At the core of the legal argument? The Constitution itself.
“No single individual can wield the power to impose taxes with sweeping international consequences,” the Liberty Justice Center argued. “Only Congress has that power—this isn’t up for debate.”
The challenge zeroes in on Trump’s invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a decades-old law meant to counter national security threats—not, the plaintiffs argue, to reshape global trade. The lawsuit claims no president before Trump has ever used IEEPA to levy tariffs, and that doing so now stretches executive power far beyond its legal bounds.
White House spokesman Harrison Fields stood firmly by the tariffs, painting them as a defense of the American worker. “President Trump is standing up for Main Street,” Fields said. “This is about fairness and stopping countries like China from gaming the system.”
But the courtroom battle isn’t just happening in New York. A separate challenge is already underway in a Florida federal court, where another small business is trying to halt Trump’s China-focused tariffs.
Trump’s most recent tariff wave includes a blanket 10% duty on goods from all countries, with additional penalties aimed at nations the administration accuses of obstructing U.S. imports. Though some of those higher tariffs have been paused for 90 days, the legal and economic fallout is only heating up.
For now, the case rests in the hands of the Court of International Trade, a little-known but powerful bench tasked with overseeing America’s sprawling and increasingly contentious global trade policies. Whether it sides with the small businesses or the former president, the decision could redefine just how much power a president has to act alone on the world stage.
