Florida stationery company files first lawsuit challenging Trump tariffs

A Florida stationery entrepreneur has become the first to legally challenge Donald Trump’s new China tariffs, claiming they were imposed illegally and threaten American small businesses.

Emily Ley, a lifestyle influencer and the founder of Simplified, filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday in Florida against Trump and his administration, arguing the president unlawfully bypassed required procedures when implementing the 20% tariff on Chinese imports.

The legal challenge comes amid escalating global trade tensions, including China announcing retaliatory tariffs of 34% on all US goods starting on 10 April in response to Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs. Global markets have already seen trillions wiped from valuations as fears of a recession mount.

“These unlawfully implemented tariffs cause harm to American businesses, American jobs, and American consumers and will be the end of many American dreams,” Ley wrote in a post on social media.

The peculiar and sweeping nature of Trump’s tariffs has raised eyebrows, with even uninhabited territories like Australia’s remote Heard Island and McDonald Islands – home only to penguins and volcanic landscapes – appearing on the White House’s list of places facing new trade duties.

Despite market turmoil and likely more lawsuits, Trump wrote on Truth Social that his economic policies “will never change”, telling foreign investors “this is a great time to get rich, richer than ever before!!!”

Ley’s Pensacola-based company, which sells premium planners and organizational tools, argues Trump exceeded his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (Ieepa) instead of traditional trade rules, which require detailed investigations before tariffs can be implemented.

The lawsuit also claims Trump has not demonstrated the tariffs are “necessary” to address the opioid emergency he cited when imposing them in February, then doubling them in March.

Supporters of the president have held that small and local companies like Simplified should go all in on using American manufacturing for their products, an idea the company maintains it has already tried without success.

“We pursued domestic manufacturing from the outset,” Ley wrote on Instagram. “Our first planners were made in the US in 2012. Each unit cost $38 to make. The US did not/does not yet have the infrastructure to support what we make.”

The lawsuit adds that the tariffs will divert money that “could be used to pay salaries, fund growth and pour into communities” and instead forces small businesses like hers to either raise prices dramatically or cut staff.