A coalition of small importers is mounting fresh legal challenges to the Trump administration's latest tariff offensive, forcing another round of court battles over presidential trade power just weeks after judges invalidated earlier versions of the same policy.
The suits target tariffs imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act that took effect last week. The administration says the levies, ranging from 10% to 12.5% on goods from more than 60 countries, are meant to punish nations that fail to stop forced labor in their supply chains. Critics argue the tariffs are a bait-and-switch by an administration cycling through legal authorities to impose sweeping trade restrictions it cannot sustain in court.
Burlap & Barrel, a spice importer that previously won legal victories blocking Trump tariffs, joined forces with Collective Horology, a Swiss watch retailer, in one complaint. Learning Resources, a toy manufacturer that achieved a Supreme Court win overturning earlier Trump tariffs, filed separately with a flooring company and related firms.
The Liberty Justice Center, representing the watch and spice businesses, contends that officials rigged the process. "Determined the tariff rates first and assembled economy-specific findings afterward to justify them," the firm alleges, describing a backwards approach that violates the statute's requirements for tailored, country-by-country analysis.
The Learning Resources complaint makes a blunter charge: the administration imposed identical tariffs across the globe instead of demonstrating how each nation's practices actually harm American commerce. "The third time's not the charm," the filing quips, referencing the string of failed tariff regimes.
Asher Rapkin, co-founder of Collective Horology, described the toll in concrete terms. The earlier tariffs cost his watch business more than $160,000, and refunds from the struck-down duties remain outstanding. The new Section 301 tariffs will hit the same way.
"Section 301 tariffs are most definitely going to hamstring my business in the exact same way that the previous two phases of tariffs have," Rapkin said. Swiss watches have no viable American manufacturing alternative, leaving importers no escape route.
The legal landscape has shifted dramatically in recent months. Courts already rejected the administration's first attempt to impose broad tariffs using emergency powers. A separate challenge to the temporary Section 122 tariffs remains pending on appeal. Now the fight centers not on whether the president can impose tariffs at all, but on whether his officials are abusing legitimate statutory authorities to achieve a predetermined policy outcome.
The White House declined to comment. An unnamed senior official defended the tariffs as a lawful use of Section 301, characterizing them as a response to unfair trading practices rather than a replacement for invalidated policies.
Small businesses have proven to be persistent thorns in the administration's side throughout this trade war. Every time courts block one tariff regime, these importers resurface with fresh litigation challenging the next iteration, forcing officials back before judges and stripping away the legal fig leaf each time.
Author James Rodriguez: "The administration keeps playing tariff roulette, betting it can find a legal authority that sticks before small businesses drag it back to court. So far, the pattern suggests judges aren't buying it."
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