A Florida-based small business is first out of the gate to challenge President Trump’s sweeping new tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. The complaint was filed by conservative legal advocacy group New Civil Liberties Alliance (“NCLA”) on behalf of Emily Ley Paper, Inc.(doing business as “Simplified”), a small business based in Florida.

The plaintiff has requested that the Court (1) declare the China EOs unlawful and unconstitutional, (2) enjoin the suit’s defendants from implementing or enforcing the EOs, and (3) set aside the modifications made to the HTS resulting from the EOs.

The suit challenges what it calls “President Trump’s unlawful use of emergency power to impose a tariff on all imports from China,” alleging that IEEPA only authorizes the president to issue sanctions in international emergencies, and not “to impose tariffs on the American people.” The suit cites both the fact that the statute does not mention the word “tariff” and the lack of congruence between the justifications given by the president in imposing the tariffs (namely, an “emergency” of illegal opioids entering the U.S.) and the legal authority granted to the president by IEEPA in contending that the Executive Orders should be vacated as ultra vires. Additionally, the suit alleges that even if IEEPA permits the EOs, then the statute violates the nondelegation doctrine because it lacks “an intelligible principle that constrains a president’s authority.”

Finally, the suit states that any resulting modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule are actionable under the Administrative Procedure Act because they are contrary to law due to the allegedly unlawful nature of the Orders.