California Governor sues to nullify Trump tariffs

California Governor Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit in federal court “challenging President Trump’s use of emergency powers to enact broad-sweeping tariffs alleging they hurt states, consumers, and businesses,” according to an April 16th announcement.

The lawsuit argues that “President Trump lacks the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs through the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, creating immediate and irreparable harm to California, the largest economy, manufacturing, and agriculture state in the nation.”

Newsom, a Democrat who may run for president in 2028, charged that, “President Trump’s unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses, and our economy — driving up prices and threatening jobs.”

Attorney General Rob Bonta said, “The President’s chaotic and haphazard implementation of tariffs is not only deeply troubling, it’s illegal. As the fifth largest economy in the world, California understands global trade policy is not just a game. Californians are bracing for fallout from the impact of the President’s choices — from farmers in the Central Valley, to small businesses in Sacramento, and worried families at the kitchen table.”

False National Emergency

The filing challenges the legality of the Trump administration’s imposition of tariffs, which it says is vested in the Congress. The filing says the Trump administration tariffs were imposed citing a false national emergency, “President Donald J. Trump has launched an unprecedented tariff regime by relying on the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) and a purported national emergency arising from persistent trade deficits.”

In just the last two weeks, President Trump has imposed a universal 10% tariff on virtually all imported goods and sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries, before pausing the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, and then increasing retaliatory tariffs on China to 145% in response to its countermeasures.

President Trump also invoked IEEPA and a purported national emergency arising from the trafficking of drugs and persons to impose, then pause, then re-impose, and then partially exempt, tariffs of up to 25% on Canada and Mexico, all in just over a month in February and March 2025.

Tariffs, however, are not among the numerous actions that IEEPA authorizes the President to take under a declared emergency; indeed, the word “tariff” does not appear in the relevant statute at all. [See 50 U.S.C. § 1702] And no President has previously relied on IEEPA to impose tariffs in the half a century since its enactment.

The United States Constitution vests the authority to impose tariffs in Congress, [see U.S. Const. art. I, § 8] and Congress has enacted numerous statutes delegating tariff authority to the President that expressly authorize imposition of tariffs, generally following required process and notice.

Rather than comply with the process and notice requirements set forth in those statutes, President Trump issued over a dozen executive orders invoking IEEPA, under the view that IEEPA grants him unilateral authority to impose unprecedented tariffs.

Tariff Impacts

President Trump’s new tariff regime has already had devastating impacts on the economy, creating chaos in the stock and bond markets, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in market capitalization in hours, chilling investment in the face of such consequential Presidential action with no notice or process, and threatening to push the country into recession.”

The California lawsuit was filed against: “DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity as President of the United States; KRISTI NOEM, in her official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; PETE R. FLORES, in his official capacity as Acting Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION.”