Plaintiffs in Another IEEPA Tariff Case File Amicus Curiae in Lead CIT Case
A number of importers self-describing as “small businesses in various fields” and led by Princess Awesome, a girls’ clothing seller, added a third amicus curiae brief to the growing number opposing President Donald Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy tariffs (see 2505120057 and 2504240028). They said they filed to “emphasize the irreparable harm caused by the President’s arbitrary and ever-changing tariff policy” (V.O.S. Selections v. Donald J. Trump, CIT # 25-00066).
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The amici submitted their May 12 brief to the lead Court of International Trade case V.O.S. Selections v. Donald Trump, brought by the conservative think tank Liberty Justice Center. Though CIT is hearing some IEEPA challenges itself (see 2504250063 and 2505080046), others are still scattered across the district courts in jurisdictions such as D.C. (see 2505090001), California (see 2505090066) and Florida (see 2505060017). The amici are themselves plaintiffs in a fourth CIT IEEPA case (see 2504250038).
The amici said their group was composed of a number of small businesses in the clothing, board games and mechanical services fields, “[a]ll but one” of which rely on imports to some extent. Some of them have already seen paid reciprocal tariffs on their imports, they said.
“The President’s sudden and dramatic increases in tariff amounts, together with the uncertainty of an ever-changing policy, threaten immediate and existential harm to Amici’s ability to stay in business,” it said.
First, they said they “find it all but impossible to plan.” Small businesses must make import decisions “many months in advance to account for customer orders, regulatory restrictions, expected costs and demand, and many other factors,” they said. The uncertainty caused by the constantly changing tariffs has threatened their existence, they said.
Second, their imports come from manufacturers with which they have long-term relationships, they said. Some of those manufacturers produce goods that aren’t available domestically. Even if it were feasible “in today’s competitive global economy” to reestablish domestic production of these unavailable goods, doing so “would take many years,” the amici argued.
They said they expect the harm inflicted on them by the tariffs to be irreparable.
“[C]alculating damages -- from the loss of customers, loss of customers’ good will, loss of business opportunities, costs of transferring manufacturing among foreign countries or from foreign countries to domestic manufacturers, time spent on these concerns rather than growing and expanding their businesses and maintaining client relationships, challenges to obtaining insurance and lines of credit during an ever-changing tariff regime, and the uncertainty throughout -- is unreasonably difficult, if not impossible, in these circumstances,” they said.