One of the organizations that successfully sued the Trump administration over the president’s main tariffs is filing a new suit fighting the levies he imposed after his stunning loss at the Supreme Court last month.
The non-profit Liberty Justice Center filed the complaint Monday at the US Court of International Trade on behalf of spice importer Burlap & Barrel and toy company Basic Fun.
The plaintiffs are targeting the 10% global tariffs Trump announced after the highest court in the land on Feb. 20 deemed levies he’d implemented under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to be unconstitutional.
The latest tariffs have been in place since Feb. 24, with the White House promising to hike them to 15%.
This time around, it’s citing Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — which the Liberty Justice Center argues doesn’t empower the executive branch to implement levies, either.
“Section 122 authorizes temporary tariffs for certain economic conditions that do not currently exist; it is not a general license for the President to tax the American people for reasons Congress never intended,” the Liberty Justice Center’s Jeffrey Schwab — who argued the previous tariff case before the nine justices – said in a statement.
Client Basic Fun is based in Boca Raton, Fla., and makes Tonka Trucks and other toys in China. New York City-based Burlap & Barrel imports spices from small farmers around the world.
Their complaint came on the heels of a March 5 lawsuit filed by two dozen states over the new tariffs.
The White House has vowed to “vigorously defend” Trump’s tariffs in court.
“The President is using his authority granted by Congress to address fundamental international payments problems and to deal with our country’s large and serious balance-of-payments deficits,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told The Post last week.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new complaint.
Last week, the Court of International Trade ordered the government to refund at least $130 billion in tariffs that importers have already paid.
