By Jack Queen
(Reuters) – A legal advocacy group on Monday asked the U.S. Court of International Trade to block President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on foreign trading partners, arguing that the president overstepped his authority.
The lawsuit was filed by the Liberty Justice Center, a legal advocacy group, on behalf of five U.S. businesses that import goods from countries targeted by the tariffs.
“No one person should have the power to impose taxes that have such vast global economic consequences,” Liberty Justice Center senior counsel Jeffrey Schwab said in a statement. “The Constitution gives the power to set tax rates — including tariffs — to Congress, not the President.”
Representatives of the White House did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The Trump administration faces a similar lawsuit in Florida federal court, where a small business owner has asked a judge to block tariffs imposed on China.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker)
