Founded in 2018, Collective sells independent watch brands including Armin Strom, Czapek, Fears, U.S.-based J.N. Shapiro and Ming, among others. The company has paid more than $160,000 in tariff duties under various schemes imposed by the Trump White House and U.S. Trade Representative Greer, says co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Asher Rapkin. Despite a Supreme Court ruling in February that found Trump lacked the authority to levy his initial round of tariffs, the administration has used alternative laws and measures to keep the tariffs in place, and Collective says it has yet to be refunded its costs.
The latest round of tariffs, filed under Section 301 of the Trade Act and effective July 24, alleges the use of forced labor in countries captured under the tariff scheme, including Switzerland, the center of the high horology sector and a country that boasts among the highest wages in Europe. Collective is expecting watch imports valued at about $69,000 in the coming weeks and will be obliged to pay approximately $8,280 in tariffs, according to the lawsuit, which was filed with the backing and support of the Liberty Justice Center, a U.S. non-profit litigator advocating for Constitutional freedoms including economic liberty and free speech. Liberty Justice Center led the legal fight to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled Trump’s initial round of tariffs illegal.
“For a small American retailer importing highly specialized products with limited capital reserves and without the scale or negotiating leverage of a multinational luxury conglomerate, an additional duty of 10 or 12.5 percent has an immediate and substantial impact,” the plaintiffs, which also include New York-based spice importer Burlap & Barrel, said.
