12 US STATES SUE TRUMP’S ADMINISTRATION OVER TARIFFS
By: TRT World
A coalition of 12 American states has filed a lawsuit to challenge the Trump administration’s tariffs, saying the president cannot institute the levies without the approval of Congress.
“President Trump’s insane tariff scheme is not only economically reckless — it is illegal,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement on Wednesday.
The southwestern state is joined by Democratic-led Minnesota, New York, Oregon and others in the filing. Separately, California filed a similar suit a week ago.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the states argue that the 1977 law invoked by President Donald Trump does not allow him to use emergency measures to impose tariffs, a power constitutionally reserved for Congress.
“By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the lawsuit alleges.
Trump has said his protectionist policy will return manufacturing jobs to the United States.
“No matter what the White House claims, tariffs are a tax that will be passed on to Arizona consumers,” Mayes said.