The Liberty Justice Center has filed the first lawsuit challenging President Trump's Section 338 tariffs on Canadian imports. The case, Gellert Global Group Corp. v. Trump, was brought in the US Court of International Trade on behalf of Gellert Global Group, an importer of Canadian cheese subject to the tariffs.
The complaint argues that Section 338, a provision of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff act that has never been used before, has been superseded by later legislation. Even if it remains operative, the source says the tariffs fail the law's requirements because Canadian actions do not discriminate against US goods and the tariffs do not offset those actions. The suit also raises the major questions doctrine and the nondelegation doctrine.
The Liberty Justice Center, which previously won a Supreme Court ruling against the administration's IEEPA tariffs, is also seeking class action certification. If granted, that would block enforcement of the Section 338 tariffs against all affected importers, not just Gellert. The lawsuit does not directly challenge the administration's separate ban on some Canadian imports, though the source argues the legality of those bans depends on the tariffs.