RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 3, 2026. —Chip Somodevilla––Getty Images
A coalition of 25 U.S. states is suing the Trump Administration , arguing the President’s latest round of sweeping tariffs on over 80 countries exceed his legal authority.
Filed Monday in the U.S. Court of International Trade, the lawsuit denounces the tariff action imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 as “arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the new levies on July 23, targeting 60 trading partners, including the European Union. The Trump Administration cited these economies' alleged failure to impose and “effectively” enforce a ban on the import of goods “produced with forced labor.”
But the Democratic-led states strongly refute this reasoning, insisting in the lawsuit that “the Administration cannot use forced labor as a pretext to continue its illegal tariff scheme. The tariffs the USTR imposed are so broad that they defy the USTR’s own stated aims and make a mockery of the statute used to justify them.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who co-led the coalition, claimed Trump is “so intent on raising the cost of living for Americans that he is willing to break law after law after law to do so.”
“Tariffs are taxes, and the American people cannot and should not shoulder the extra costs that come from the President’s failed and illegal economic policy—no matter how much the President wants them to,” he added, in a statement announcing he is suing the Trump Administration over its tariffs for a third time.
Joining California in the lawsuit are Arizona, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia Washington, and Wisconsin.
All of the states have Democratic attorneys general or governors.
Per the lawsuit, the 25 states are arguing that the USTR mishandled its investigations into alleged forced labor malpractices.
“Over the past four months, USTR sought public comments and testimony regarding its Section 301 investigation. However, the comments and testimony the USTR compiled do not support implementing tariffs as a method to combat forced labor; rather, the comments and testimony show that the USTR acted arbitrarily and capriciously,” the lawsuit alleges.
In a statement shared with TIME, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said “the United States is using its lawful authority to obtain the elimination of unreasonable acts, policies, and practices that burden U.S. commerce.” Section 301 tariffs have “proven to be a legally durable tool since the President’s first term, and they remain so now,” he added.
Trump's legal battles over tariffs
This lawsuit is just the latest roadblock Trump has been met with in his efforts to install global tariffs.
When the Supreme Court ruled in February that the President lacked the authority to impose his "Liberation Day” tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 statute intended for national emergencies, Trump labeled the decision “deeply disappointing” and said he was “ashamed of certain members of the court.”
The Administration responded by imposing a 10% temporary import duty under a different legal authority, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
A coalition of states sued the Trump Administration in March, arguing that the President's use of Section 122 exceeded the limited authority granted under the statute.
In May, the U.S. trade court ruled that the specific Section 122 tariffs challenged in that case were unlawful, but the levies stayed in place while the Administration appealed.
Those temporary levies were due to expire at midnight on July 24. The Administration announced this new round of tariffs the day before.
When asked at the time if he was confident his latest levies would withstand legal scrutiny, Trump insisted the “very standard tariffs” had previously been approved in “thousands of cases.”
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