The largest lobbying force for corporate America is considering suing the Trump administration to block the implementation of the president’s new tariffs set to go into effect Wednesday, two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told Fortune.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents millions of U.S. businesses big and small but which is heavily funded by industry titans, has been weighing taking the tariff battle to the courts and is being urged to do so by some of its largest members. The move would effectively provide cover for companies distressed about the tariffs’ impact on their businesses but fearful of incurring the President’s wrath by openly criticizing his trade policy.
Chamber of Commerce spokesperson Matt Letourneau declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While the exact legal argument behind the group’s potential suit could not be learned, the Chamber could argue that President Trump’s invocation of emergency powers to impose the new tariffs is illegal. Last week a nonprofit called New Civil Liberties Alliance took a similar approach, filing suit on behalf of a small business owner who imports goods from China, arguing that the President did not have the legal authority to impose his February tariffs on China. Trump had done so by invoking the 50-year-old Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), arguing that China had not done enough to help stem the U.S. fentanyl crisis.
The President did so again when announcing the new worldwide slate of tariffs last week. But the NCLA argued that the IEEPA does not authorize a president to impose tariffs and noted that no president has ever attempted to use it to do so.
It’s possible other groups could sue alongside the chamber, one of these people said.
Many big companies’ CEOs have been resistant to speaking out against the tariffs, fearful of the President and his most vocal supporters targeting their business in retaliation. “No one wants a target on their back” is a common refrain. By working through trade groups like the Chamber of Commerce, companies can push back against the administration without sticking their neck out.
“You need to force your industry groups to take a much more combative position than they want to do if you’re afraid to do it yourself,” Sean West, a veteran global affairs expert, told Fortune‘s Diane Brady for today’s CEO Daily newsletter. “Industry groups are no longer just about kind of quietly slowing down policymaking. They can be a vehicle for safety in numbers.”
While the chamber doesn’t typically spar with Republican leaders, this wouldn’t be the first time that it has sued to try to block Trump policy. In 2020, the business group sued the first Trump administration over its immigration policies, with its then CEO writing in an op-ed that “if you want businesses to grow and the economy to rebound, you allow skilled workers to come here legally to work and contribute to the well-being of our nation; you don’t lock them out.”
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