Democratic US states sue to challenge Trump’s latest round of tariffs

A group of 25 Democratic-led US states sued US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday, arguing that the president’s latest round of tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners, like most of his earlier sweeping tariffs, exceeds his legal authority to tax imports.

The states’ lawsuit filed in the US ‌Court of International Trade in New York follows previous challenges by small US businesses, which sued to block the tariffs on the day they went into effect last month.

States and small businesses have successfully challenged previous global tariffs imposed by Trump in his second term but the president has continued to pursue new tariffs despite a series of legal setbacks.

The Trump administration on July 24 imposed new tariffs of 10 per cent and 12.5 per cent on 60 trading partners, including the European Union, over allegations that they were not ⁠doing enough to stop the export of goods produced with forced labour.

The tariffs went into effect just as a previous 10 per cent global tariff ‌expired.

The states that sued, including Oregon and New York, all have Democratic attorneys general or governors.

“Despite losing every step of the way, Trump is trying yet again to inflict more chaos on working families and ‌home-grown Oregon businesses,” Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement.