Blackfeet tribal members sue to stop Trump tariffs against Canada

When a wheel broke on Jonathan St. Goddard’s tractor in late March, the nearest replacement he could find was in Saskatchewan for $1,253. When he brought it back to Montana, he was slapped with a $308 tariff for the equipment, part of an expansive array of tariffs ordered by the Trump administration.

On Friday in federal court, St. Goddard, along with state Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, filed a lawsuit in federal court asking a judge for an injunction against Trump’s tariffs on Canada, arguing that it violates the treaty rights of Indigenous people across the nation, and saying that only Congress can approve tariffs, not the president, according to the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit centers on the Jay Treaty signed in 1794, ratified by Congress and signed into law by then-President George Washington, which exempted tribes along the United States-Canadian border from being taxed or levied on goods between the nations. The lawsuit, filed in the Great Falls division of Montana’s federal courts, says that the 49th parallel, the longest continuous running border in the world between two nations, bisects more than 30 tribes whose ancestral lands span both countries. In addition to the Blackfeet tribe, other tribes split by the border include the Lakota, Salish, and Iroquois.

Montana has 14 border crossings with Canada, spanning three provinces, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The lawsuit asks the court to halt the tariffs that affect Canada, or if not, declare that the emergency orders that implemented the tariffs be declared void for tribal members because they violate the 1794 treaty rights, which were ratified by Congress.

“The imposition of universal tariffs in the Canada Orders is an unconstitutional attempt by the executive to regulate commerce and violates plaintiffs’ constitutional and treaty rights,” the lawsuit said.

St. Goddard and Webber are being represented by Missoula lawyer Monica Tranel.

But the lawsuit doesn’t just focus on the treaty rights, it also challenges the Trump administration’s ability to use emergency powers to impose tariffs. Trump has declared that the fentanyl drug crisis at America’s borders have forced a national emergency.

“The plain language of the (International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977) does not include the power to ‘tariff’ or to ‘tax.’ The powers enumerated in the statute are extensive and specific. Omission of tariffs is significant given how clearly Congress referenced tariff authorities in other trade statutes. The IEEPA has been the basis for over 60 executive orders. It has never been used to impose tariffs,” the court filing said.

The lawsuit said that only Congress has the power to negotiate treaties and trade agreements.

While the Trump administrations has used the fentanyl problem to impose the tariffs, the lawsuit also contends that the tariffs have not targeted the problem. For example, Customs and Border Patrol intercepted 9,600 kilograms coming from Mexico, but only 19 kilograms of fentanyl from Canada.

“The executive orders do not address the differential or attempt to target the harm, they simply impose blanket tariffs on all borders without reference to the factual situation or any attempt to explain how universal tariffs, which are functioning like sanctions, will actually address the stated emergency,” the lawsuit stated.  “There is no link between the stated national security threat of imports from steel and aluminum and a 25% tariff on all goods, including a replacement tractor wheel necessary to continue farming and ranching.”

The lawsuit also said that Montana’s tourism and agricultural sectors will be harmed by the tariffs, two key industries for the state, and essential to Montana’s tribal nations.

“Tourism reservations are cancelled, contracting jobs are off, farm and ranch operations have been thrown into high unpredictability, and businesses cannot plan,” the lawsuit said. “The growing, tourism, and construction season is short in Montana. It cannot withstand see-saw tariffs that are on one day and higher the next.”

Montana Farmers Union filed a declaration in favor of the lawsuit, saying that tariffs had the ability to hurt the farming and ranching community because of the trade between Canada and Montana, especially in the northern part of the state.

“Many Montana farmers’ closest suppliers and buyers are just across the Canadian border. Farmers are going to get caught both ways by tariffs on both side of the borders instead of being able to rely on the historical network of businesses and family that have helped to spread their risk and workload,” said Walt Schweitzer, executive director of the Montana Farmers Union.