12 States Sue to Stop Trump’s ‘Insane Tariff Scheme’

As Trump’s trade war sparks price increases for electronics, a group of 12 US states are suing the Trump administration to stop the president’s tariffs. 

A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general, led by Arizona and Oregon, argue that Trump is abusing the law to impose his tariffs. “President Trump’s insane tariff scheme is not only economically reckless – it is illegal,” says Arizona AG Kris Mayes.

The lawsuit urges the US Court of International Trade to intervene and invalidate Trump’s executive orders instituting the tariffs while barring US Customs agents from enforcing them. AGs from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont have also joined the suit.

The coalition says they have a case because Trump has been invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose his tariffs. “That law applies only when an emergency presents ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’ from abroad and does not give the President the power to impose tariffs,” AG Mayes argues.

The Trump administration will no doubt disagree. In imposing the tariffs, the president declared a national emergency, citing the illegal drugs that China, Mexico, and Canada are allegedly allowing to flow into the US. He also imposed “reciprocal tariffs” by claiming that trade deficits are a threat to the national security and the US economy.

However, the lawsuit argues: “The purported ‘unusual and extraordinary threats’ identified by President Trump as ‘national emergencies’ do not amount to emergencies. Nor are they extraordinary or even unusual.

“The tariffs are also not designed to ‘deal with’ the purported emergencies, because they are intended, at least in part, to raise revenue,” the lawsuit says, later adding: “President Trump has chosen to wield IEEPA to impose tariffs on the world at his whim, muddled by threats, additions, exceptions, exemptions, and pauses. The direct consequence has been an erratic financial market and a destabilized US and global economy.” 

It could take months or years for the lawsuit to be resolved. Still, the legal action might work to curb Trump’s favored tactic of using tariffs. Congress could take action, but that’s unlikely with a GOP majority in the House and Senate.

In the meantime, the president has signaled he’s ready to de-escalate his trade war with China as the tariffs disrupt the stock market and the supply chain.

About Michael Kan

Senior Reporter

I’ve been working as a journalist for over 15 years—I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017.

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