Small businesses launch new Trump tariff challenge

Per Axios, small businesses that previously won court challenges to Trump's tariff policies are suing again—this time to block the latest round of trade levies. The new tariffs, imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act and taking effect last week, impose ten to twelve-point-five percent duties on imports from over sixty countries the administration says are failing to block goods made with forced labor. Burlap & Barrel and Collective Horology, a watch retailer, are among those bringing the challenge, arguing the administration is stretching what Congress intended as a targeted trade remedy into a sweeping global tariff regime. Asher Rapkin, co-founder of Collective Horology, tells Axios the earlier tariff rounds already cost his company more than one hundred sixty thousand dollars, with refunds still outstanding. This marks the third legal battle over Trump's tariff authority after courts rejected an earlier emergency-powers tariff regime and cast doubt on a second attempt. The fundamental legal question has shifted from whether the administration has the power to impose tariffs to whether it's exercising that power properly.

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