California filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to block President Donald Trump from enacting his tariff plans, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced.
Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the lawsuit in federal court Wednesday morning. It argues that Trump overstepped his authority by imposing tariffs without congressional approval, and calls on the court to declare Trump’s tariffs void and block their implementation.
“President Trump’s unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses, and our economy — driving up prices and threatening jobs. We’re standing up for American families who can’t afford to let the chaos continue,” Newsom said in a statement.
Bonta noted that California is the “fifth largest economy in the world” and argued that tariffs have “very real consequences for Californians across our state.”
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“I am proud to go to bat alongside Governor Newsom to fight for California’s vibrant economy, businesses, and residents,” Bonta said.
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Trump’s sweeping tariffs have caused dozens of nations to flock to the U.S. to negotiate trade deals, though they also threaten steep price hikes for Americans.
Last week, Trump put a 90-day pause on reciprocal, customized tariffs he had imposed across the globe, an abrupt change of course. Simultaneously, the Trump administration upped the ante on its tariff on China to 125%, which was raised yet again on Wednesday to 145%.
Trump has justified his tariffs under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA). The law allows the president to employ certain economic policies in the event of an emergency, but Newsom and California argue tariffs are not among those powers.
“The IEEPA gives the President authority to take certain actions if he declares a national emergency in response to a foreign national security, foreign policy, or economic threat. The law, which was enacted by Congress in 1977, specifies many different actions the President can take, but tariffs aren’t one of them. In fact, this is the first time a president has attempted to rely on this law to impose tariffs,” Newsom’s office said in a statement.
“It is difficult to imagine a more economically significant set of actions than the one Trump is taking on tariffs, which have inflicted hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses on a whim, using a statute that doesn’t mention tariffs. The Court, applying this doctrine even-handedly, will find that such expansive action absent congressional approval is a clear violation of the law,” the statement continued.
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