US states sue Trump administration over new tariffs on 60 trading partners

A coalition of 25 US states sued the Trump administration on Monday over new tariffs pegged at 10% to 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners, calling them a pretext for replacing import taxes struck down by the supreme court in February.

The states are asking the US Court of International Trade to halt the tariffs, declare them unlawful and order refunds of duties that have already been paid.

According to the states involved in the action, tariffs on 59 countries and the European Union imposed last month account for 99.4% of US imports. The Trump administration officials have charged that the countries have not done enough to crack down on imports produced by forced labor.

“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,” New York attorney general Letitia James said in a statement.

“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,” James added.

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 new tariffs went into effect in July after “Liberation Day” tariffs were ruled unconstitutional in February and a new set of temporary tariffs expired.

The latest proposal for tariffs uses Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a federal law meant to target countries that use forced labor. The new tariffs affect major trading partners including Canada, Japan, Norway, Taiwan and China.

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

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”, they said 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.

“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,” Hochul said. “The Supreme Court has made it clear that this administration cannot ignore the law to impose sweeping tariffs.”