States Sue Trump Over Tariffs

The latest update in the tariff saga: 13 states—plus a few more parties—are suing President Trump.

On the west coast, Governor Gavin Newsom and State Attorney General Rob Bonta kicked things off by suing Trump’s administration at a district court in California. Their argument is Congress, not the president, has dominion over tariff policy, and the president can’t use tariffs in an economic emergency.

And they could win. 

Apparently the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) has never been used for imposing tariffs and makes no mention of tariffs in its list of authorities made available to the commander in chief to respond to an economic emergency. California argues that as the fifth largest economy in the world and the largest U.S. importer of goods it “bears an inordinate share of the tariffs’ costs.”

Then more joined the party: After California’s suit, a dozen more states joined together to file their own similar lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade. New York, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont all joined the party.

Add these to the list: The New Civil Liberties Alliance also filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Florida stationary company earlier this month in regards to tariffs targeting Chinese imports. The Blackfeet Nation tribe filed a lawsuit targeting the duties on Canadian goods. A fourth case filed at the Court of International Trade covered reciprocal tariffs and separate tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico.

Refresh: Trump imposed a 10% tariff on goods from all countries and even higher tariffs for countries with high barriers to U.S. imports. He later paused these for 90 days. Meanwhile there’s a 145% tariff on China, excluding specific electronics. While the EU has paused its approved retaliation tariffs, China slapped back with a 125% tariff.

Soundbite: “Bottom line, Trump doesn’t have the singular power to radically upend the country’s economic landscape. That’s not how our democracy works.” — Rob Bonta, California Attorney General

Where this goes: More parties could be inspired to bring their own legal challenges regarding tariffs. However, there’s no timeline on how long the current cases challenging Trump’s use of IEEPA will take.