06.11.25

Cantwell Joins Amicus Brief Challenging Trump Administration Abuse of Emergency Powers to Impose Arbitrary and Reckless Tariffs

ntwell’s bipartisan Trade Review Act would permanently restore Congress’ constitutional role in U.S. trade policy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined 30 Senators in filing an amicus brief in a key case, Oregon v. Department of Homeland Security, challenging the Trump Administration’s abuse of emergency powers to impose global tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner, including some of America’s closest allies. The brief opposes the Administration’s request for a stay of a recent court decision that struck down these tariffs.  

In May, the U.S. Court of International Trade held that the Trump Administration lacked authority to issue the challenged tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA)—a statute that no president prior to President Donald Trump has ever tried to use to impose tariffs. The Senators’ amicus brief argues a stay should be rejected.

“Granting a stay will cause irreparable harm to constituents of?Amici,?particularly thousands of small and medium-sized businesses that will continue to be harmed if the President persists in collecting the unlawful IEEPA tariffs,” wrote the Senators. “Small businesses do not have cash-on-hand or capital reserves to pay the increased tariffs, nor can they quickly?adapt to them by modifying supply chains.??If they cannot pass on the tariff costs to consumers—which would create additional harms for?Amici’s constituents—many face letting employees go or filing for bankruptcy. ?Even a few weeks of additional tariffs means small businesses will suffer irreparable harm.” 

“The powers to impose tariffs and regulate international trade were given to Congress for a reason,” continued the Senators. “Absent authorization from Congress to impose tariffs and approval to enter binding, durable trade agreements, it is contrary to the public interest for the President to arrogate Congress’s power to himself.” 

The full amicus brief is available HERE.  

The amicus brief was led by Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and was signed by Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Angus King (I-ME), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Mark Warner (D-VA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Edward Markey (D-MA), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Gary C. Peters (D-MI). 

In April, Sen. Cantwell introduced the bipartisan Trade Review Act of 2025 to reaffirm Congress’ key role in setting and approving U.S. trade policy, and reestablish limits on the president’s ability to impose unilateral tariffs. Her bill has since picked up 12 additional cosponsors – an equal mix of Republicans and Democrats – and been endorsed by multiple major U.S. business organizations, including the National Retail Federation, which is the largest retail trade association in the world. House members also introduced a bipartisan companion bill. On April 16, Sen. Cantwell joined nine local business owners and leaders at the Port of Seattle to push back against the Trump administration’s chaotic tariffs-first trade policy. On May 29, she gathered stakeholders at the Port of Seattle again to respond to the chaos caused by President Donald Trump scrambling to keep his draconian tariffs in place amid court challenges.

“American businesses need a rules-based trade system. That means American families would have the certainty, not chaos and not higher prices. We know this: That when you start trade wars, usually that means you end up closing markets,” Sen. Cantwell said in at the May 29 press conference.

In Washington state, two out of every five jobs are tied to trade and trade-related industries. More information about how those tariffs will affect consumers and businesses in the State of Washington can be found HERE.  

For the past four months, President Trump has been sowing economic chaos across the country with unpredictable and ever-changing tariff announcements. His back-and-forth announcements and actions have whipsawed American businesses and consumers, as well as close neighbors and allies.

Federal Reserve Chairman Powell recently warned, “What looks likely, given the scope and scale of the tariffs, is that … the risks to higher inflation, higher unemployment have increased.”  This week, the Federal Reserve issued its “beige book” report, which found that all 12 Federal Reserve Districts “indicated that higher tariff rates were putting upward pressure on costs and prices.”  Today, the World Bank also said that because of a “substantial rise in trade barriers,” it is cutting its forecast for U.S. economic growth in 2025 in half, while also cutting its estimate for global economic growth, and warned that the world economy “is once more running into turbulence” and “Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep.’’

###