Dozen states sue to contest Trump administration’s tariffs

Attorneys general from 12 states on Wednesday filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to block President Donald Trump from imposing steep tariffs on foreign goods. The attorneys general say Trump broke the law by levying tariffs on imports. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Vermont. Trump earlier this month froze the majority of the tariffs for 90 days as his staff began negotiating with world leaders. The pause did not include goods from China.

Congress has not granted the president the authority to install such sweeping tariffs, New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office said in a statement. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office said the sweeping plan could significantly increase the cost of living for American families.

What is Trump’s argument for his authority to levy the tariffs? The administration imposed the tariffs through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Congress passed the act in 1977, giving the president the authority to respond to extraordinary threats to national security during peacetime. The law allows the president to investigate, regulate, or prohibit financial transactions.

In their lawsuit, the attorneys general argued that Congress did not intend the act to be used for tariffs.

Have other lawsuits been filed against the tariffs? The Liberty Justice Center last week filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of a group of small businesses who say they have been severely harmed by the tariffs. The nonprofit describes itself as a nonpartisan public-interest litigation firm. The Center’s Senior counsel Jeffrey Schwab said only Congress has the power to set tax rates and tariffs. In response, White House spokesman Harrison Fields told CNN that trade deficits with other countries amount to a national emergency.

Meanwhile, the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan law firm that says it focuses on constitutional freedoms, earlier this month filed a similar complaint against the tariffs.

Dig deeper: Listen to Cal Thomas’ report on The World and Everything in It about how to navigate the tariff war.