California on Wednesday became the first state to sue President Donald Trump for his sweeping yet ever-changing tariff regime, accusing Trump of illegally wielding the International Economic Emergency Powers Act to circumvent Congress.
“Donald Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally impose the largest tax hike of our lifetime with his destructive tariffs,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a statement announcing the challenge. “We’re taking him to court.”
Trump imposed the tariffs by first declaring a national emergency, then claiming the power afforded to him under the 1977 IEEPA meant he didn’t need congressional approval.
As the largest manufacturing state in the country, the nation’s top agricultural exporter, and the fifth-largest economy in the world, California stands to suffer billions of dollars in damage.
“The president’s chaotic and haphazard implementation of tariffs is not only deeply troubling, it’s illegal,” California Attorney General Rob Banta said in a statement.
“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, this game the president is playing has very real consequences for Californians across our state.”
Earlier this month, on what it labeled “liberation day,” the White House levied soaring tariffs on imports from around the globe using a crude formula widely derided by just about everyone outside of the White House.
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As a result, for example, the United States is now engaged in a trade war with a remote island inhabited entirely by penguins.
The U.S. Constitution originally empowered Congress to levy tariffs, though the legislative branch has ceded some of that power to the executive over the years.
Republicans in Congress could reclaim that power and stop Trump’s tariffs at any time.