A New Jersey food importer sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, October 20, in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, challenging 50% tariffs on Canadian goods imposed under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.

The plaintiff is Gellert Global Group, a third-generation family-run business that imports Canadian cheese. It is represented by the Liberty Justice Center, which said in its own announcement that it filed the suit for Gellert and a proposed class of importers, and asked the court to halt enforcement and collection and return duties already paid with interest.

Section 338, part of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, allows duties to offset foreign discrimination against U.S. commerce. The administration said it acted in August over Canada's alleged discriminatory treatment of U.S.-made cars, alcohol and dairy goods, covering about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods including hockey sticks, wine, honey and other products, AP reported. No president had used Section 338 to impose a tariff before, according to the Liberty Justice Center and Reuters.

"No president should have the power to pull a dormant statute off the shelf and use it to impose sweeping tariffs or import bans without the limits Congress required," said Sara Albrecht, chair of the Liberty Justice Center, quoted by AP and Reuters. The lawsuit argues the provision is aimed at specific foreign discrimination and is not an all-purpose authorization for sweeping tariffs, and that tariff power belongs to Congress under the Constitution.

Reuters reported the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters also noted this is the fourth wide-ranging tariff policy challenged in court during President Donald Trump's second term, after the Supreme Court ruled in February against most of the tariffs imposed in 2025. Canada retaliated dollar-for-dollar after the August tariffs, AP reported.

Sources: Associated Press via KCAU 9, Reuters via KWSN, Liberty Justice Center press release.