A group of 25 states filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s new global tariffs that went into effect last month, adding to similar complaints by small businesses who claim the levies are illegal.
New York, California, Illinois and other states filed the complaint Aug. 3 in the US Court of International Trade, setting up a now-familiar clash with separate coalitions of states and small businesses locked in a fight with the Trump administration over a third round of tariffs.
The lawsuits accuse Trump and US officials of unlawfully using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to replace earlier tariffs that were either struck down by the US Supreme Court or expired. The government’s stated reason f
or imposing the levies — concerns about goods produced with forced labor — is pretextual and invalid, they said.
“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 th
e 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.”
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Under the new tariffs, the administration is collecting 10% to 12.5% duties on imports from most major trading partners. The move under Section 301 followed a US pr
obe into the alleged failure of about 60 economies to prevent forced labor in their supply chains to the detriment of American workers.
The states allege the administration is improperly invoking provisions of the trade law and that the new duties are operating “as an implementation of the president’s broad tariff policy rather than the kind of tailored measure authorized under Section 301.”
A White House spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump is rebuilding a tariff wall that was struck down in February when the Supreme Court ruled his global levies, issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, were illegal.
The president then imposed 10% global tariffs, under Section 122 of the Trade Act. Those were ruled illegal by a trade court, but they were allowed to stay in effect during an appeal. The Section 122 tariffs expired last month.
Section 301 allows the US Trade Representative, under the direction of the president, to impose tariffs in response to other nations’ trade measures it deems discriminatory to American businesses or in violation of US rights under international trade agreements.