Detroit Axle sues White House

Detroit Axle is still suing the Trump White House over the end of duty-free treatment for low-value imports, a case now focused squarely on de minimis. (cbsnews.com) (courtlistener.com) The plaintiff is Axle of Dearborn, Inc., which does business as Detroit Axle and filed the case in the U.S. Court of International Trade on May 16, 2025. Judge Jane A. Restani is assigned to the case, and CourtListener shows a filing as recent as April 27, 2026. (courtlistener.com) The fight is over the de minimis rule, a customs exemption that had let shipments worth less than $800 enter the United States without duties. Detroit Axle says that exemption was central to its low-price model for imported replacement parts. (supplychaindive.com) (cbsnews.com) Trump first moved against de minimis for China-linked goods in 2025, and the White House later expanded the policy. A February 24, 2026 executive order said the suspension of duty-free de minimis treatment for all countries would continue even if some underlying tariff orders were struck down. (whitehouse.gov) (federalregister.gov) Detroit Axle says the change turned a cheap shipping channel into a major tariff bill. In its account to CBS Detroit and in court filings summarized by Supply Chain Dive, some China-sourced parts now face tariffs as high as 52.5%. (cbsnews.com) (supplychaindive.com) Mike Musheinesh, Detroit Axle’s chief executive, told CBS Detroit the company opened operations in Mexico and used de minimis shipping to keep prices down for consumers. He said a $1 million import shipment could trigger $725,000 in tariffs before partial relief tied to the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling. (cbsnews.com) That Supreme Court ruling did not settle this dispute. CBS Detroit reported that the justices rejected some Trump tariffs in February 2026, but did not decide the separate question of whether the president could keep de minimis suspended. (cbsnews.com) The Detroit Axle case had been paused while the courts handled that broader tariff fight. The Court of International Trade lifted the stay in early March 2026, letting the company pursue its amended complaint challenging the executive branch’s power to cancel the exemption. (supplychaindive.com) (detroitnews.com) Detroit Axle argues that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the 1977 law used in the wider tariff fight, does not let a president erase a tariff exemption that Congress wrote into statute. Supply Chain Dive reported the company also argued that reading the law that broadly would raise a constitutional delegation problem. (supplychaindive.com) The White House did not comment to CBS Detroit on the lawsuit. Trump, though, criticized the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling and said it would hand money back to parties that had “ripped off” the country. (cbsnews.com) The next step is not a new political announcement but a court decision on whether de minimis can stay suspended by executive order. For Detroit Axle, that answer will decide whether its low-value import model comes back or stays buried under tariffs. (courtlistener.com) (whitehouse.gov)