Five small businesses filed a lawsuit Monday against US President Donald Trump, accusing him of overstepping his authority by imposing new tariffs under what they call a "figment of his own imagination." The plaintiffs, including New York wine importer VOS Selections and Pennsylvania-based FishUSA, claim Trump violated the Constitution by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify trade restrictions.

The complaint, submitted to the US Court of International Trade, argues that trade deficits do not represent an "unusual and extraordinary threat," nor do they qualify as a "national emergency." Businesses from Utah, Virginia, and Vermont also joined, stressing that these tariffs were even applied to remote, uninhabited regions where there are "only [...] penguins and seals."

The plaintiffs say deficits simply show that "some other country sells lots of things Americans want to buy or that its people are unwilling or unable (often because of poverty) to purchase many American goods," not that the US economy is under threat.