{"id":1195,"date":"2025-04-27T10:21:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T10:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/trumps-tariffs-prompt-wave-of-lawsuits\/"},"modified":"2025-04-27T10:21:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T10:21:38","slug":"trumps-tariffs-prompt-wave-of-lawsuits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/trumps-tariffs-prompt-wave-of-lawsuits\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Tariffs Prompt Wave of Lawsuits"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Somewhere along a roughly 7,500-mile journey that begins in Shenzhen, China, there are 19 shipments bound for Rick Woldenberg, the chief executive of Learning Resources, an educational toy company in Vernon Hills, Ill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Eventually, the containers of puzzle cards, child binoculars and other products will reach a port in the United States, and Mr. Woldenberg will face a difficult and expensive decision. He can pay the sky-high tariffs that President Trump has imposed on most foreign goods, or forgo at least some of the much-needed inventory, perhaps imperiling his bottom line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Woldenberg expects to do a bit of both. But he has also opted for a more aggressive course of action, joining a growing roster of opponents now legally challenging Mr. Trump\u2019s ability to issue some of the tariffs in the first place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nearly four weeks into a costly global trade war with no end in sight, Mr. Trump is facing a barrage of lawsuits from state officials, small businesses and even once-allied political groups, all contending that the president cannot sidestep Congress and tax virtually any import at levels to his liking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The lawsuits carry great significance, not just because the tariffs have roiled financial markets and threatened to plunge the United States into a recession. The legal challenges also stand to test Mr. Trump\u2019s claims of expansive presidential power, while illustrating the difficult calculation that his opponents face in deciding whether to fight back and risk retribution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">None of the lawsuits filed this month are supported by major business lobbying groups, even though many organizations \u2014 including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable \u2014 have been sharply critical of the president\u2019s tariffs and lobbied to lessen their impact. The chamber privately debated bringing a lawsuit, but ultimately decided it was \u201cnot the best course of action at this time,\u201d said Neil Bradley, the executive vice president of the group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEngaging the administration in order to achieve a quick and immediate reduction in tariffs has the best chance of aiding businesses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Instead, the battle has been left to a scattered yet growing roster of litigants, including Mr. Woldenberg, whose lawyers <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69927142\/learning-resources-inc-v-trump\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">sued<\/a> on Tuesday. In an interview, he said the tariffs had become so costly that he had \u201cnothing to lose\u201d by taking legal action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m going to do everything in my power to keep our company healthy, but we\u2019re hobbled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last week, a dozen Democratic attorneys general from states including Colorado, New York and Oregon also <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ag.ny.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/court-filings\/state-of-oregon-et-al-v-donald-j-trump-united-states-department-of-homeland-security-et-al-complaint-2025.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">asked a federal judge<\/a> to block many of Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs on grounds that they had \u201cupended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy. California <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.cand.448087\/gov.uscourts.cand.448087.1.0_2.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">sued<\/a> earlier this month, claiming the president\u2019s policies harmed its economy and budget.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Business Roundtable also did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the heart of the legal wrangling is a 1970s law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which enables the president to order trade embargoes, set sanctions and limit foreign investment to ward off adversaries abroad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump invoked that law to impose his initial duties on Chinese exports, in what he described as an effort to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States. He also used those powers to establish a 10 percent tax on exports from nearly every other country and to justify what he calls \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs, which will charge even steeper duties on countries including U.S. allies. For evidence of an emergency, Mr. Trump primarily pointed to the trade deficit \u2014 the difference between what the United States exports to other nations and what it imports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">No president before Mr. Trump had ever imposed such import taxes under the emergency law, which does not once mention the word \u201ctariff.\u201d That omission has set the stage for a series of pivotal legal clashes, hinging in part on whether the law truly empowers the president \u201cwithout actually, explicitly saying tariffs,\u201d said Ted Murphy, a co-leader of the global arbitration, trade and advocacy practice at the law firm Sidley Austin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The latest lawsuit arrived Thursday from the Pacific Legal Foundation, a group with reported ties to the conservative donor Charles Koch. On behalf of a clothing company, a board game designer and other small businesses, the group <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/pacificlegal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2025-4-24Princess-Awesome-v-Customs-Complaint.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">faulted<\/a> Mr. Trump for imposing an \u201cunlawful and unconstitutional\u201d 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods, resulting in higher prices for American businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jamey Stegmaier, a co-founder of Stonemaier Games and a plaintiff in the case, said his company had more than 250,000 board games and other products on order that it could not easily import from China, unless it was willing to pay a \u201ctotal tariff tax of around $1.5 million.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The decision to sue was the \u201cright thing\u201d but still a difficult choice, Mr. Stegmaier said, citing a fear of retribution from Mr. Trump. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a scary proposition to oppose the administration right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Another legal group with ties to Mr. Koch and the conservative financier Leonard A. Leo sued early this month on behalf of a Florida company facing high costs from the president\u2019s tariffs on China. Mr. Leo is a co-chairman of the Federalist Society, which has advised Mr. Trump on judicial appointments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The organization behind the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69842090\/emily-ley-paper-inc-v-trump\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">lawsuit<\/a>, the New Civil Liberties Alliance, does not disclose its full range of donors, nor do any of its like-minded peers, making it difficult to determine the exact driving financial force behind each of the new tariff cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a separate lawsuit, two members of one of the largest tribes in the United States <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.mtd.80457\/gov.uscourts.mtd.80457.1.0.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">claimed that<\/a> Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs on Canada violated treaty rights, and they asked a judge to halt taxes on imports arriving at key points of entry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Rob Bonta, the Democratic attorney general of California, said his state\u2019s tariff lawsuit was similar to its other legal battles with Mr. Trump and came down to the \u201ccore issue of executive authority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur position has been clear, time and time again, that we will not allow this president to exert authority he does not have,\u201d Mr. Bonta said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump has said he is moving forward with tariffs in order to raise billions of dollars in revenue, encourage more domestic manufacturing and force America\u2019s trading partners to make concessions, including dropping tariffs on U.S. goods. Without the economic emergency law, the president could have been forced to use much slower and narrower paths to tariffs, as he did with sector-specific levies including those on the auto industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Greta Peisch, a former trade official who is a partner at the law firm Wiley Rein, said those tariffs were a more \u201cestablished practice,\u201d arising from federal investigations into those industries, so challenging them would be an \u201cuphill battle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In enacting the economic emergency law in 1977, Congress sought to curtail presidential powers after past commanders in chief had overused emergency declarations. President Richard M. Nixon had even tapped a precursor trade statute to impose his own 10 percent duty on imports, which similarly drew a court challenge, though the president prevailed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Decades later, lawyers for Mr. Trump have cited that legislative history to argue that they can impose tariffs in response to economic emergencies \u2014 primarily because Congress never explicitly said they could not. That position has put the administration at odds with constitutional scholars who take the view that the executive branch cannot claim powers that are not expressly granted to it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe president doesn\u2019t have authority outside of authorities delegated to him by Congress to issue tariffs,\u201d said Jeffrey Schwab, a senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, a nonprofit with past ties to Richard Uihlein, an Illinois industrialist and a Republican megadonor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This month, the group <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/libertyjusticecenter.org\/cases\/v-o-s-selections-inc-v-trump\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">sued the Trump administration<\/a> on behalf of small businesses that say the recent tariffs have harmed them. That included Victor Schwartz, the founder of VOS Selections, a New York City company that imports specialty wine, spirits and sake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For the moment, Mr. Schwartz said, his company has been mostly unscathed, securing its latest shipments before the highest tariffs take effect. Soon, though, he may have to delay orders, cancel them or make other cuts, he predicted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Faulting \u201cbillionaires sitting around doing nothing,\u201d Mr. Schwartz added of his choice to join the legal battle: \u201cI just felt like, \u2018Put up or shut up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Somewhere along a roughly 7,500-mile journey that begins in Shenzhen, China, there are 19 shipments bound for Rick Woldenberg, the chief executive of Learning Resources, an educational toy company in Vernon Hills, Ill. Eventually, the containers of puzzle cards, child binoculars and other products will reach a port in the United States, and Mr. Woldenberg [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[890,888,199,197,889],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-lawsuits","tag-prompt","tag-tariffs","tag-trumps","tag-wave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insuracarelife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}