U.S. Food Importer Sues to Block Trump's 50% Tariffs on Canadian Goods
Gellert Global Group, represented by the Liberty Justice Center, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challenging President Donald Trump's 50% tariffs on Canadian imports imposed under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The case marks the fourth legal challenge to the administration's wide-ranging tariff policies.
A New Jersey-based food importer with US$1.7 billion in annual revenue has filed a lawsuit seeking to block President Donald Trump’s 50-per-cent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian imports. Gellert Global Group, which imports Canadian cheeses subjected to the new duties, is seeking to represent a class of similarly impacted businesses.
The Liberty Justice Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of Gellert in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York. The challenged tariffs target Canadian imports including wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods and hockey equipment. President Trump imposed the 50-per-cent tariffs over the summer in response to what the administration called Canada’s discriminatory treatment of U.S.-made cars, alcohol and dairy goods.
To impose the duties, Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, marking the law’s first known usage in nearly a century. The lawsuit argues that the president has used shifting legal rationales to claim tariff power assigned to Congress by the U.S. Constitution. It further contends that Section 338 has been overwritten by later tariff laws, including the Trade Act used for forced labor tariffs earlier in 2026.
Sara Albrecht, chairman and CEO of the Liberty Justice Center, stated that no president should have the power to use dormant statutes to impose sweeping tariffs without Congressional limits.
This lawsuit marks the fourth time a wide-ranging tariff policy from the current administration has been challenged in court. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against most of the tariffs Trump imposed in 2025. Following that loss, the U.S. trade court previously ruled against a temporary 10-per-cent global tariff. The U.S. trade court is currently weighing the legality of a third round of global tariffs imposed to combat forced labor.