Trump sued over tariffs by Florida stationery firm claiming 'severe' harm

By Peter Blumberg

 

President Donald Trump was sued in Florida by a small retail stationery business which claims it will suffer “severe” harm from his “unconstitutional” tariffs on China. 

In what may be the first US lawsuit challenging the president’s rollout of the highest tariffs in over a century, Pensacola-based Simplified said having to pay extra to import products from China will inflict “competitive injury in the form of higher costs, competitive disadvantage and lost profits.”

 

Simplified touts itself as a woman-owned business that sells premium calendar planners and other organizational tools. It alleges in a federal court complaint filed Thursday that the president improperly bypassed Congress by imposing tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.

 

 

“He would be empowered to declare a national emergency based on some long-running national problem, then impose tariffs purportedly in the name of that emergency — thus sidestepping the detailed constraints Congress has placed on the tariff authority it has granted,” according to the complaint.

 

Simplified is seeking a court order declaring the tariffs unconstitutional and finding that they were adopted in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act. 

 

The suit, filed by New Civil Liberties Alliance, a legal advocacy group, also names the Department of Homeland Security as a defendant. Department representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

The case is Emily Ley Paper Inc. v. Trump, 25-cv-00464, US District Court, Northern District of Florida (Pensacola).