Overview
- The White House applied Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to place 50 percent duties on about $20 billion of Canadian imports and those levies are now in effect with Ottawa responding dollar for dollar.
- Lawyers and scholars say Section 338 has never been litigated and may be legally vulnerable because later trade laws set different procedures and limits on presidential tariff powers.
- Critics note the administration did not publicly calculate the dollar amount of harm the law requires and imposed tariffs on items outside the stated disputes, such as hockey sticks and cement.
- No lawsuit has been filed to challenge the action and groups seeking plaintiffs report difficulty finding businesses willing to sue, leaving the statute untested in court for now.
- The move revives a Smoot‑Hawley‑era authority after decades of trade rules favoring negotiated remedies and follows a pattern of recent Trump tariffs that courts have already narrowed, so observers say the next key developments will be litigation or renewed bilateral talks.