A growing number of conservatives are challenging President Donald Trump’s wide-reaching tariffs on allies and adversaries alike, with some questioning whether he has the authority to implement them.
One of the first legal challenges isn’t coming from a fleet of corporate litigators for one of the many American companies forecasting that the import taxes will have a significant effect on their businesses. It’s coming from an influential, conservative-backed legal nonprofit representing a small stationery company.
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And in a Congress where both chambers hold a GOP majority, two Republicans – the longest-serving member of the Senate and a battleground district Nebraska representative endorsed by Trump last year – are leading the legislative branch’s hamstrung, bipartisan attempt to push back on the tariffs.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed a complaint this week over the legality of Trump’s tariffs launched earlier this year on all Chinese imports, representing Florida-based Simplified, a stationery company owned by Emily Ley.
The NCLA, a legal nonprofit with conservative backers such as industrialist Charles Koch and judicial activist Leonard Leo, was behind the lawsuits that led the Supreme Court to overturn a principle known as the Chevron deference last year, sharply curtailing the power of federal agencies to regulate vast parts of American life.
The alliance argues that Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify the levies was unconstitutional because it does not authorize the president to impose tariffs; rather, it authorizes specific emergency actions, such as sanctions or freezing assets, to protect the nation from foreign threats. Trump also used IEEPA to launch global “reciprocal tariffs” Wednesday.
“No prior president ever thought the IEEPA allowed him to set tariffs. Reading this law broadly enough to uphold the China tariff would transfer core legislative power,” NCLA President Mark Chenoweth said in a statement. “To avoid that nondelegation pitfall, the court must construe the statute consistent with nearly 50 years of unbroken practice and decide it does not permit tariff setting.”
Though the lawsuit does not take issue with Trump’s declaration of an opioid-related emergency, the NCLA says that the decision to impose wide-reaching tariffs as a response was made without legal authority.
“His China Executive Orders show no connection between the opioid problem and the tariff he ordered – much less that the tariff is ‘necessary’ to resolve that problem. The means of an across-the-board tariff does not fit the end of stopping an influx of opioids, and is in no sense ‘necessary’ to that stated purpose,” according to the complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division. “In fact, President Trump’s own statements reveal the real reason for the China tariff, which is to reduce American trade deficits while raising federal revenue.”
The lawsuit, which claims the new tariffs “will impose hundreds of thousands of dollars” in costs to Ley’s business, names the United States, Trump, the Executive Office of the President, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the agencies’ leadership as defendants. The plaintiffs are asking the court “to declare the China import tariff unlawful, vacate the increase reflected in the U.S. tariff schedule, and enjoin this tariff’s implementation and enforcement.”
White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said in a statement that the president “has broad authority to impose tariffs to address issues of national emergency, such as the opioid pandemic. The Trump Administration looks forward to victory in court.”
Responding to the lawsuit, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem defended the president’s decision to impose tariffs.
“For too long, America has been targeted by unfair trade practices that made our supply chain dependent on foreign adversaries, eroded our industrial base, and hurt American workers. This has gravely impacted our national security. President Trump’s strong action will help make America safe again,” she said. “[The Department of Homeland Security], primarily through [Customs and Border Protection], is ready to collect these new tariffs and put an end to unfair trade practices.”
Economists say Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on trillions of dollars of goods will raise costs for consumers and increase the odds of a recession. But the pushback from a conservative-backed nonprofit and a small, woman-owned stationery business comes as the corporate response has been relatively subdued.
Business leaders have been reluctant to publicly express concerns about Trump’s erratic tariff strategy, people familiar with discussions between the White House and leading companies previously told The Washington Post, lest they lose their seats at the table or become a target for the president’s attacks – just as law firms, universities and other large institutions have.
On Capitol Hill, there’s been growing discontent with Trump’s tariffs among GOP ranks. While House Republicans have been publicly supportive, swaths of them have been privately nervous about how Trump’s tariffs will shake out if they become permanent. While some Republican senators have been more openly skeptical, their authority to do something has been limited by members of their own party.
On Wednesday, in a largely symbolic vote, Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rand Paul (Kentucky) joined Democrats in a 51-48 vote rejecting the national emergency declaration Trump used to justify his plan to set 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports.
On Wednesday, Trump announced a 10 percent tariff that would apply to imports from every nation and a separate set of what he called “reciprocal” tariffs that impose a higher country-specific rate. On Thursday, after the announcement sent global stock markets tumbling, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) introduced a bill requiring Congress to approve any tariffs within 60 days of their proposal by the president. The legislation also would require the White House to provide an analysis of a tariff’s impact on businesses and consumers.
And in a rare form of public pushback against the president by a Republican who’s part of a conference that’s broadly loyal to Trump, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) said Friday that he plans to introduce the House’s companion bill to Senate legislation aimed at bolstering Congress’s role in authorizing tariffs.
However, House Republican leaders included language in a procedural vote last month to prevent the chamber from voting on any proposed bill that would end Trump’s national emergency declaration against Mexico, Canada and China, effectively shielding House Republicans from taking a hard vote that could rebuke the president. That means that Bacon’s bill cannot be voted on by this Congress.
Trump’s sweeping tariffs also have brought concerns from a group he’s long listened to – prominent conservative media personalities.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, as well as guests on Fox News and Fox Business, criticized Wednesday’s move. Longtime Trump friend Sean Hannity acknowledged the backlash, saying on Thursday, “The playing field is now getting leveled … It’s a little messy in the beginning.” And Ben Shapiro, co-founder of the Daily Wire, said the president’s tariffs are “probably unconstitutional” and also illogical.
A photo of Trump on Saturday signaled that some of the criticism is on his radar. The snapshot showed him reading a New York Post story about the tariffs with China.
Highlighting some of “the good” and “the bad” about the latest round of tariffs, a headline on the page in Trump’s hands reads, “Beijing retaliates with 34% duties as stop crash.”
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Marianna Sotomayor, Theodoric Meyer, Jeremy Barr, Cat Zakrzewski, Jeff Stein and Andrew Ackerman contributed to this report.
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