Two U.S. small businesses file a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s latest round of “forced labor” tariffs imposed under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. The businesses, Burlap & Barrel and Collective Horology, say the administration’s duties on imports from 60 trading partners require more detailed, country-specific legal findings than the policy provides. They argue the approach goes beyond the authority to tax imports and relies on generalized assertions rather than a reasoned, record-based explanation of how each country’s practices burden or restrict U.S. commerce.
According to multiple outlets, the complaint is filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York and is supported by the Liberty Justice Center. The lawsuit disputes how the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) justified the tariffs following investigations into whether the targeted economies take sufficient steps to ban imports made with forced labor.
Sources also report the tariffs are set at rates up to 12.5% for some countries, and they take effect on the day the administration’s prior 150-day 10% global tariff lapses.
