Twelve states ask trade court to halt Trump tariffs

Michael Macagnone, CQ-Roll Call on Apr 23, 2025

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WASHINGTON — A dozen states filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging the Trump administration’s imposition of sweeping tariffs, arguing the president trampled on Congress’ powers to raise taxes.

The complaint filed by Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Vermont contends the tariffs Trump has announced since Feb. 1 violate federal law and the Constitution.

“By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the filing said.

The states asked the Court of International Trade in Washington to declare the tariffs unlawful and order agencies not to collect them. The lawsuit takes aim at tariffs put in place on Canada, Mexico, China and worldwide and changes Trump later made to them.

Federal law normally limits the president’s ability to impose tariffs to cases where a country has specific tariffs of its own or is using policy to “dump” products in the American market, the lawsuit said.

Trump instead used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 50-year-old statute that was never meant to be used for tariffs. “Not once has any other President used IEEPA to impose tariffs,” the filing said.

At a press conference Wednesday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said her office had a responsibility to stand up to Trump’s efforts.

“I will not stand by while the federal government impose policies that harm our economy, violate the Constitution and ignores the limits of executive power,” Mayes said.

Similarly, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement that the president did not have the power to impose the tariffs.

“The president does not have the power to raise taxes on a whim, but that’s exactly what President Trump has been doing with these tariffs,” James said in a statement.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that “hundreds” of nations have reached out about trade agreements and the White House received 18 formal proposals.

The states’ lawsuit is the broadest yet against Trump’s tariffs, which includes challenges from interest groups, industries and the state of California.

The case is State of Oregon et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al.

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