Forced-Labor Tariffs Face Court Challenge Within Hours — Liberty Justice Center Files in Court of International Trade

The Liberty Justice Center filed suit in the US Court of International Trade on July 24, 2026, within hours of the Section 301 forced-labor tariffs taking effect — the same organization whose litigation produced the Supreme Court's February 2026 IEEPA ruling. The lawsuit argues Trump's 10–12.5% duties are an unlawful attempt to restore the global tariff policy the Supreme Court already struck down, and that Section 301 requires country-specific findings identifying particular unfair trade practices — not the blanket forced-labor rationale applied to 60 economies simultaneously. Bloomberg analysis (July 26) notes that Section 301 "has been used many times across presidential administrations," making it a more established statutory foundation than IEEPA, but the forced-labor rationale applied at this breadth and scale is novel and legally untested. Two additional small businesses filed a parallel challenge the same day. For in-house counsel and compliance teams advising on tariff obligations: tariff liability for July 24 duties is real and collectible now — CBP has not suspended collection pending litigation — but refund rights may emerge as they did for IEEPA tariffs. Building tariff-payment tracking and refund-monitoring into compliance operations is the practical implication.