U.S. trade court scrutinizes Trump’s forced labour tariffs

The U.S. Court of International Trade examined the legal and factual basis of President Donald Trump's latest global tariffs, imposed on nearly all U.S. imports, at the request of four small businesses and 25 Democratic-led states. The court heard arguments in Manhattan over lawsuits alleging that the tariffs are an attempt to revive unchecked tariff power, which the Supreme Court had struck down in February.

Pratik Shah, representing the plaintiffs, argued that the Trump administration misused a law that allows only a "carefully constrained" tariff authority. He contrasted the recent tariffs with those imposed during Trump's first term, which were more tailored to each economy. Eric Hamilton, representing the U.S. Department of Justice, stated that the Trade Representative had evaluated the prevalence of goods produced with forced labour in international commerce and did not need to show "with metaphysical certainty" that forced labour was a "burden" on US commerce.

The panel is expected to issue a written ruling in the coming weeks, potentially throwing out the tariffs entirely or ordering the government to re-do its investigation to provide more detail and justifications. The case highlights Trump's use of tariffs as a foreign policy tool, though the Supreme Court ruled against most of his widest-ranging tariffs in February, finding that the president cannot unilaterally impose tariffs on all US trading partners.