US small businesses sue Trump administration over new ‘forced labour’ tariffs

The lawsuit argues that the US president is trying to reimpose duties that were already ruled illegal by the Supreme Court

Two US small businesses on Friday challenged President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners, saying that the new policy, like most of Trump’s previous tariffs, went beyond the president’s authority to tax imports.

The lawsuit, filed in the US trade court in New York, argues that the new tariffs require more detailed country-specific findings about “forced labour” to be legally justified.

The two small businesses, backed by a non-profit legal group that successfully sued over previous rounds of tariffs, argued that the president is trying to reimpose tariffs that were already ruled illegal by the US Supreme Court.

The Trump administration on Friday imposed new tariffs of 10 per cent and 12.5 per cent on 60 trading partners, including the European Union, over allegations that they were not doing enough to stop the export of goods produced with forced labour.

The new tariffs took effect just as a temporary 10 per cent global tariff expired.

Trump has made tariffs a central pillar of his foreign policy, using them as leverage to negotiate trade deals around the globe.