A conservative legal advocacy group has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that the president’s unilateral tariffs on Chinese imports represent an unconstitutional overreach of executive power.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) filed the 24-page complaint Thursday in U.S. District Court in Austin, alleging that President Donald Trump imposed the tariffs without congressional authorization by misusing a decades-old emergency law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
“These unlawful tariffs are a presidential power grab that usurps Congress’s right to control tariffs and upsets the Constitution’s separation of powers,” said Andrew Morris, senior litigation counsel for NCLA. “They are especially crushing to small businesses — including our clients in this case.”
Lawsuit Targets Use of Emergency Powers
The suit contends that the IEEPA, passed in 1977, was never intended to give presidents blanket authority to impose trade tariffs. The law allows the executive branch to impose sanctions or financial restrictions in response to international crises, but the NCLA argues that tariffs — which are effectively taxes — fall solely under Congress’s Article I powers.
“A tariff is a tax on Americans’ commerce with other countries,” the complaint states. “The Constitution assigns Congress exclusive power to impose tariffs and regulate foreign commerce.”
The Trump administration implemented the tariffs citing an emergency related to Chinese-manufactured opioids and the U.S.-China trade imbalance. The plaintiffs argue there is no clear or necessary connection between those issues and the sweeping tariffs, as required under the IEEPA.
“The means of across-the-board tariffs do not fit the ends of stopping an influx of opioids or ending trade deficits,” the lawsuit reads. “In no sense are these tariffs ‘necessary’ to those stated purposes.”
Plaintiffs Include Trade Organizations and Small Businesses
The NCLA is representing a group of plaintiffs impacted by the tariffs, including:
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FIREDISC, a Texas-based outdoor cooking manufacturer;
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The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), a nonprofit trade group;
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And Ryan Wholesale, a timber truss and wood product manufacturer.
The complaint says the tariffs raise costs for American producers and consumers alike, placing undue strain on businesses that rely on imported materials or components from China.
No Previous President Has Used IEEPA for Tariffs
The lawsuit asserts that Trump is the first president in the IEEPA’s nearly 50-year history to use it to impose tariffs. That, the group argues, is telling.
“The statute does not even mention tariffs, nor does it say anything else suggesting it authorizes presidents to tax American citizens,” the complaint states.
Mark Chenoweth, president of the NCLA, called the tariffs “an act of taxation without representation.”
“Someone gave the President very bad legal advice,” Chenoweth said. “No prior administration thought the IEEPA empowered the president to impose tariffs unilaterally.”
Case Likely Headed to Higher Courts
This marks the second lawsuit filed by the NCLA over Trump’s tariffs. The first case has since been transferred to the U.S. Court of International Trade in Manhattan. The current case in Texas seeks a preliminary injunction to block further implementation and enforcement of the tariffs while litigation proceeds.
Legal experts expect the case to eventually make its way through the appellate courts and possibly to the Supreme Court, given its implications for executive authority and congressional power over trade policy.
For now, the lawsuit intensifies scrutiny over Trump’s aggressive use of presidential powers in his second term—particularly on trade and foreign policy—and opens a new front in the ongoing battle over the scope of emergency executive authority.
