Half of US States Sue Trump over Newest Tariffs on 60 Trading Partners

By Staff, Agencies 

A coalition of 25 US states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, 
challenging new tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners and seeking to halt their enforcement, The Guardian reported.

“The states are asking the US Court of International Trade to stop the tariffs, declare them unlawful, and order refunds of duties that have already been paid, according to the states involved in the action. The tariffs, imposed last month on 59 countries and the European Union, account for 99.4% of US imports,” the states said.

The lawsuit follows a separate suit filed by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of two US small businesses who argue that Trump exceeded his executive authority with the new tariffs. The legal challenge comes after Liberation Day tariffs were ruled unconstitutional in February and a new set of temporary tariffs expired.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement “After losing at the Supreme Court, the administration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs.” 

She further added: “No matter how the administration tries to justify it, the law and our Constitution are clear that the president does not have the power to impose sweeping tariffs on whatever countries he wants.”

In addition to New York, the states joining the action are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, along with the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

The coalition represents a broad cross-section of states across the country, encompassing both large coastal economies and smaller inland states. The participation of 25 states underscores the widespread opposition to the tariff policy among state-level officials.

The states argue that the tariffs harm their constituents by raising costs on imported goods and disrupting established trade relationships. According to the states involved in the action, the tariffs affect major trading partners including the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, Taiwan and China.

The Trump administration has charged that the countries have not done enough to crack down on imports produced by forced labor. The new tariffs, which went into effect in July, use Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a federal law intended to target countries that use forced labor.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said: “The United States is using its lawful authority to obtain the elimination of unreasonable acts, policies, and practices that burden US commerce.”

“A foreign country's failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is unreasonable and burdens US commerce, including American workers, and must be addressed. Section 301 tariffs have proven to be a legally durable tool since the President's first term, and they remain so now,” Desai added.

The administration maintains that the tariffs are a legitimate exercise of executive authority under existing trade law. Officials have framed the measure as a necessary response to trade practices they consider unfair to American workers and businesses.

The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, and the state attorney general argue that the administration's tariffs based on "a supposed investigation into countries' efforts to combat forced labor do not satisfy the requirements of Section 301." 

In a statement, they said that the administration is using "forced labor" as an excuse to continue its policy of indiscriminately enacting damaging tariffs on a wide range of countries that lead to higher prices for their constituents.

Hochul further underlined that "President Trump's illegal tariffs are nothing more than a tax on hardworking families, driving up the cost of groceries, household essentials, building materials, and countless everyday goods that New Yorkers rely on.”
 
She added that "The Supreme Court has made it clear that this administration cannot ignore the law to impose sweeping tariffs."

The states contend that the administration has overstepped its constitutional and statutory authority by imposing tariffs without proper congressional approval. They argue that the new tariff proposal does not meet the legal requirements of Section 301 and represents an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court's earlier ruling against the Liberation Day tariffs.