Liberty Justice Center Sues Over 50% Canada Tariffs in Trade Court
The same legal organization that won a partial Supreme Court rollback of Trump tariffs last year is now targeting Canadian levies, with one importer citing $40 million in projected annual losses.
The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging the Trump administration's 50% tariffs on Canadian imports, according to reporting by the New York Post. The case was filed on behalf of Gellert Global Group, a New Jersey-based importer that estimates the tariffs will cost it $40 million per year on cheese imports alone.
The U.S. Court of International Trade is a federal court in New York with exclusive jurisdiction over civil actions arising from tariff and trade legislation. Cases filed there proceed before a panel of judges appointed under Article III of the Constitution, and decisions are appealable to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The Liberty Justice Center is the same nonprofit legal organization that previously brought litigation resulting in the Supreme Court overturning a portion of President Trump's tariff orders, according to the New York Post report. The specific Supreme Court decision and its docket number were not identified in the available source material. The full case caption and docket number for Tuesday's filing are not yet available in public court records at the time of publication.
Gellert Global Group's stated $40 million annual figure applies specifically to its cheese import business. The New York Post report notes that the 50% tariffs apply to a broader range of Canadian goods, including alcohol, hockey sticks, and cement, though a complete list of covered products and the specific executive order or presidential proclamation authorizing the 50% rate were not identified in the available source material. The Federal Register would contain the authorizing proclamation and the full schedule of covered goods.
The Liberty Justice Center filed the suit under what legal theory is not fully specified in available source material. In prior tariff litigation, plaintiffs have commonly argued that the president exceeded statutory authority granted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, known as IEEPA, or other trade statutes. Whether Tuesday's complaint relies on IEEPA, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, or another statutory basis would be stated in the complaint itself, which becomes a public document upon filing with the Court of International Trade.
U.S.-Canada trade is governed in part by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020. USMCA includes dispute resolution mechanisms, though those processes are separate from domestic U.S. Court proceedings. Whether Canada has initiated a USMCA dispute proceeding in response to the 50% tariffs is not addressed in the available source material.
The economic scope of U.S.-Canada trade is significant. Canada was the United States' largest goods trading partner in 2023, with two-way trade totaling approximately $773 billion, according to data published by the Office of the United States Trade Representative. A 50% tariff rate on covered Canadian goods would represent a major change in the cost structure for U.S. Importers across multiple industries.
Gellert Global Group's $40 million annual cost estimate is the company's own projection and has not been independently verified by a government agency or court. The methodology underlying that estimate is not described in the available source material. A company's import volume and tariff liability can be calculated from U.S. Customs and Border Protection entry records, which are not routinely made public but can be obtained through litigation or Freedom of Information Act requests.
The Trump administration has not publicly responded to the lawsuit as of the time of publication. The Department of Justice, which typically represents federal agencies in Court of International Trade proceedings, had not filed any responsive pleading as of Tuesday, which is expected given the same-day filing.
Several facts remain unknown from available public records: the precise docket number assigned to Tuesday's filing, the specific legal claims asserted in the complaint, the authorizing executive action establishing the 50% rate on Canadian goods, and whether any preliminary injunction motion has been filed seeking to halt tariff collection during litigation. The complaint itself, once available through the Court of International Trade's public docket, would answer each of those questions.