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Global trade war escalates as Beijing hits back against Donald Trump with new tariffs on US goods

• China retaliates to Trump’s ‘bullying practice’ with 34% tariffs on US imports
• IMF warns of ‘significant risk’ to global economy from Trump tariffs as markets slide
• Analysis: Trump’s ‘idiotic’ and flawed tariff calculations stun economists

New Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative legal group, has filed what it says is the first lawsuit seeking to block Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, saying the US president overstepped his authority. Reuters reports:

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, alleges that Trump lacked the legal authority to impose the sweeping tariffs unveiled on Wednesday as well as duties authorized on February 1 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

“By invoking emergency power to impose an across-the-board tariff on imports from China that the statute does not authorize, President Trump has misused that power, usurped Congress’s right to control tariffs, and upset the Constitution’s separation of powers,” NCLA senior litigation counsel Andrew Morris said in a statement.