The lawsuit seeks to challenge the White House’s reliance on retaliatory tariffs imposed by Canada to justify its own duties under Section 338.
Canada has imposed a series of countermeasures against numerous US tariffs. Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney matched the Section 338 US tariffs “dollar for dollar” after Trump imposed them for what he called “unequal treatment” of US cars, dairy and alcohol.
It also points out Section 338 requires a 30-day waiting period before levies can be imposed, but the tariff on products including cheese was added to the list just a week before tariff collection began.
Sara Albrecht, chief executive of the Liberty Justice Center, said the case was not about Trump himself but about the presidency.
“No president should have the power to pull a dormant statute off the shelf and use it to impose sweeping tariffs or import bans without the limits Congress required,” she said.
The lawsuit argues that Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 has been superseded by Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
It also argues that if Section 338 still applies, the White House has not established the legal basis for the sweeping tariffs against Canada.
“The case is not an objection to tariffs as such. It asks who has the power to impose them and whether the executive branch followed the law Congress wrote,” the Liberty Justice Center said.
The law group has also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to block their collection.
It is the fourth case brought by the group against Trump’s tariffs, including its successful case against the sweeping tariffs brought in under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that were struck down in February this year.
Albrecht said the group had brought all the cases for the same reason: “the Constitution gives tariff power to Congress. The executive branch cannot keep moving the same policy from one statute to another and pretend the limits disappear”.
