Small businesses mount legal challenge to Trump's latest global tariffs

Two small businesses on Monday sued the Trump administration over its latest round of tariffs, ​saying that the president cannot simply use a different law ‌to reimpose a global 10% tax on imported goods after the US Supreme Court struck down the administration's previous tariffs.

The lawsuit, filed by spice ​importer Burlap & Barrel, Inc. and toy company Basic Fun ​Inc., mirrors arguments made last week by a coalition of 24 US states, saying that President Donald Trump is imposing ​the new tariffs based on a misreading of an archaic trade ​law that was meant to address historical monetary concerns rather than routine trade deficits.

Ethan Frisch, co-founder of Burlap & Barrel, said in a statement that the ​tariffs mostly hurt small US importers like his company and ​American consumers, rather than foreign governments.

"Sudden global tariffs make it harder for us ‌to operate, harder for our partners to sell their crops, and more expensive for American families," Frisch said. "We joined this case because trade policy shouldn't be made by inventing an economic crisis."

The ​lawsuit, filed by ​the legal nonprofit Liberty Justice Center, is the first private lawsuit to challenge the new tariffs.

Trump has made tariffs ​a central pillar of his foreign policy, using ​them as leverage to negotiate trade deals around the globe. But the US Supreme Court ruled on February 20 that most of Trump's tariffs were ​illegal, invalidating tariffs that he had imposed ​under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that had previously never been ​used to impose tariffs.

Read more: US states and businesses demand tariff refunds amid uncertain future