A dozen states have sued the Trump administration in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York to stop its tariff policy, claiming it is unlawful and has brought chaos to the American economy. Yahoo says the lawsuit challenges Trump’s claim that he could arbitrarily impose tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The suit asks the court to declare the tariffs to be illegal and to block government agencies and its officers from enforcing them. The 12 states suing the administration include Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont. The suit says Trump’s policy has been subject to his “whims rather than the exercise of lawful authority.”
The suit claims only Congress, not the president, has the power to impose tariffs, and the president can only invoke the IEEPA when the emergency presents an “unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad.
