The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative legal organization, initiated a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Thursday, challenging the imposition of tariffs on Chinese imports. The legal action, presented in a federal court in Florida, contends that former President Donald Trump overstepped his legal authority by introducing the extensive tariffs announced on Wednesday, along with the duties approved on February 1 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
In a news release, the group labeled the tariffs as “unlawful,” claiming they placed a significant burden on American taxpayers. The NCLA noted that, in the near 50-year history of IEEPA, no other president, including Trump during his first term, had attempted to use the act for imposing tariffs.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Simplified, a Florida-based company specializing in home management products. According to NCLA’s senior litigation counsel, Andrew Morris, former President Trump misused emergency powers by imposing substantial tariffs on Chinese imports, infringing upon Congress’s authority to regulate tariffs and disrupting the constitutional separation of powers.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that a 34% tariff would be applied to Chinese imports, in addition to the 20% imposed earlier in the year, totaling 54% in new levies. The lawsuit requests judicial intervention to block the implementation and enforcement of these tariffs and to reverse Trump’s changes to the U.S. tariff schedule.
The litigation argues that presidential authority to impose tariffs is contingent upon congressional permission and must align with complex trade statutes that dictate when and how tariffs can be authorized. These statutes necessitate prior investigations, detailed factual findings, and a precise alignment between the statutory authority and the scope of the tariff.
Trump had declared an emergency concerning China’s alleged involvement in the U.S. opioid crisis, using tariffs as a negotiation tool to curb the influx of harmful drugs. Nevertheless, NCLA stressed that while the lawsuit did not dispute the opioid-related emergency declaration, it challenged the imposition of tariffs without legal backing.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Kent Wetherell, appointed by Trump, who previously blocked a significant part of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy in 2023. FOX Business has reached out to the White House for comment. Reuters also contributed to this report.
