U.S. firms sue over Trump tariffs, seek halt and refunds

2026-07-25

Lawsuit follows launch

U.S. companies sued on the same day the Trump administration launched new tariff measures on the 24th, seeking to block them. The plaintiffs are asking the court to order the administration to stop collecting the new tariffs and issue refunds.

Legality of Section 301 tariffs challenged

The administration imposed additional tariffs of 10% or 12.5% on 60 countries and regions under Section 301 of the Trade Act. It says the measures are a response to insufficient action against forced labor and to distortions caused by unfairly cheap products. The new tariffs took effect at 12:01 a.m. U.S. Eastern time on the 24th and became the subject of a case at the U.S. Court of International Trade before 24 hours had passed.

Plaintiffs say decision came first

The plaintiffs include a New York-based spice seller that said it is due to pay just under $14,000 in new tariffs soon. In the complaint, they argued that rates were set first and justifications were built afterward to continue reciprocal tariffs that were ruled unconstitutional. They also criticized the U.S. government's report on forced labor, saying it lacked sufficient analysis by country and region and was 'nothing more than a pretext' for tariffs.

Pushback from countries and regions

Gregory Shaffer, a professor at Georgetown University, said Section 301 of the Trade Act explicitly allows tariffs to be imposed after an investigation and that the lawsuit is more difficult than one over reciprocal tariffs. At the same time, he said the administration applied the measures globally without narrowing them to specific countries or regions, and that the plaintiffs could still win.

Section 301 also drew lawsuits when the first Trump administration imposed tariffs on China in 2018 and 2019. The key issue was whether the U.S. Trade Representative could expand the scope of collections without limit, and the Supreme Court finalized the plaintiffs' defeat in June this year. Australia, Brazil and others have also condemned the latest measures as arbitrary and unjustifiable. Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa said at a post-Cabinet press conference on the 24th that it was regrettable to impose tariffs on Japan on the grounds that there was no ban on imports of products produced through forced labor.

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