Food Importer Challenges Trump's 50 Percent Canada Tariffs

A New Jersey-based food importer has challenged President Donald Trump's 50 percent tariffs on Canadian products in federal trade court, arguing that the administration exceeded its authority by invoking a rarely used provision of a 1930 trade law. Filed Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, the lawsuit seeks to invalidate the duties and secure refunds for affected importers.

Gellert Global Group Corp. brought the case through the nonprofit Liberty Justice Center after the administration imposed tariffs under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The duties initially covered approximately US$20 billion in Canadian goods and took effect at the end of August following the breakdown of trade negotiations, according to National Post and CityNews.

The company imports Canadian cheese subject to the 50 percent levy. Its Canadian division also faces retaliatory Canadian tariffs on American-made cheese sold in Canada, exposing different parts of the same business to duties imposed by both governments.

The lawsuit argues that Section 338 has been superseded by later trade laws and had never previously been used by a president to impose tariffs. It also challenges whether Trump's stated reasons satisfy the statute's requirements, including its provisions for calculating duties and a 30-day waiting period.

Liberty Justice Center CEO Sara Albrecht said the case concerns the limits of presidential authority over trade and taxation.

"No president should have the power to pull a dormant statute off the shelf and use it to impose sweeping tariffs or import bans without the limits Congress required," said Sara Albrecht, CEO of Liberty Justice Center.

Thomas Gellert, co-chief executive officer of Gellert Global Group, said the company's longstanding commercial relationships were being disrupted by the measures.

"spent generations building trusted relationships with suppliers, customers and partners across the food industry."

Gellert described the financial and operational consequences of the tariffs for businesses throughout the supply chain.

"These tariffs disrupt those relationships overnight and create costs and uncertainty that ripple through the entire supply chain," said Thomas Gellert, co-chief executive officer of Gellert Global Group.

The company highlighted a cross-border dairy supply chain in which milk from farmers in upstate New York is processed into brie in Canada before the finished cheese returns to the United States.

"The tariffs hit American farmers and businesses on both sides of that transaction," the company's news release said.

The Trump administration has defended the tariffs as a response to Canadian trade policies that officials say disadvantage American exporters. Those concerns include provincial restrictions on American liquor, Canada's supply-managed dairy system and quotas on certain U.S. vehicles.

An administration official, speaking on background, said the government would vigorously defend the president's actions in court. The official also maintained that the lawsuit would not weaken Trump's commitment to improving conditions for American workers, farmers and businesses.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra offered a different characterization of the bilateral relationship during a conference in Gatineau, Quebec, on Tuesday.

"We are negotiating some tariffs," said Pete Hoekstra, U.S. ambassador to Canada.

Hoekstra said the administration did not consider the broader relationship between the two countries broken, despite Canada's objections to the trade measures.

"From our perspective, we don’t view the relationship as ruptured. I know that the Canadians look at it differently," said Hoekstra.

The lawsuit also disputes the administration's justification for the duties, noting that Canadian restrictions on American liquor and vehicle imports were responses to earlier U.S. tariff measures. It argues that Canada's dairy supply-management policies operate under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, negotiated during Trump's first administration.

Liberty Justice Center Senior Counsel Jeffrey M. Schwab argued that Congress had already established a legal process for addressing unfair foreign trade practices through Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

"Congress already gave the executive branch a tool for responding to unfair foreign trade practices: Section 301, which requires an investigation, public comment and other safeguards," said Jeffrey M. Schwab, senior counsel at Liberty Justice Center.

Schwab said the administration should not be able to bypass those procedures by relying on the older statute.

"The administration cannot skip those protections by reaching for a 1930 statute that no president had ever used to impose a tariff," said Schwab.

The dispute follows earlier court challenges to Trump's broader tariff program. In February 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the president could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to impose the challenged tariffs, citing Congress's constitutional authority over taxes and tariffs.

That ruling required customs authorities to refund US$166 billion collected from importers under the invalidated duties, plus interest, according to National Post. The administration subsequently pursued alternative tariff authorities, including Section 301, which is also facing a separate legal challenge over duties imposed on imports from numerous countries.

Separately, retaliatory Canadian tariffs took effect Sept. 8, while the U.S. administration later excluded certain Canadian products, including motorcycles, alcoholic beverages and whey products, from imports. The Gellert case, docketed as Gellert Global Group Corp. v. Trump, 26-cv-4636, asks the trade court to declare the Section 338 tariffs unlawful and order refunds.