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

The U.S. Court of International Trade has begun scrutinizing the legal and factual basis of President Donald Trump's recent global tariffs, which were imposed on nearly all U.S. imports due to allegations that trading partners are not doing enough to stop forced labor. Three judges, appointed by Presidents Trump, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, heard arguments in Manhattan over lawsuits alleging that the tariffs are an attempt to revive unchecked tariff power that was struck down by the Supreme Court in February.

Four small businesses and 25 Democratic-led states argue that the tariffs far exceed the president's authority. Pratik Shah, an attorney representing the small businesses, said the Trump administration has misused a law that offers only a "carefully constrained" tariff authority. The U.S. Department of Justice, represented by Eric Hamilton, argued that the U.S. Trade Representative had thoroughly evaluated the prevalence of goods produced with forced labor in international commerce, and did not need to show "with metaphysical certainty" that forced labor was a "burden" on US commerce before imposing tariffs.

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