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Twenty-five U.S. states sued President Donald Trump's administration on Monday over his latest round of tariffs, which affects imports from 60 countries and economies.
The lawsuit, which includes attorneys general from New York, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Jersey, and Minnesota, among others, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, argues that these levies are illegal and will increase prices for consumers and businesses across the country.
In March, one month after the Supreme Court struck down most of his global tariffs, the government announced investigations into 59 countries and the European Union (EU) under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act.
The administration claimed at the time that its goal was to investigate forced labor practices in global trade.
Relying on this investigation, it announced last July tariffs of between 10% and 12.5% on imports from 60 countries and economies, including the 27 members of the EU and Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
The states that filed the lawsuit today claim that the tariffs do not meet the requirements of Section 301 and that the government is using forced labor "as an excuse to maintain its policy of indiscriminately imposing harmful tariffs on a wide range of countries."
"There is no logical connection between the alleged problem of forced labor in international supply chains and the global tariffs imposed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)," they wrote in the court document.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the plaintiffs, criticized in a statement that, following the Supreme Court's ruling, the administration "is again attempting to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs."
James also recalled that the president "does not have the power to impose broad tariffs on whatever countries he wants," as the Supreme Court established in its February ruling.
[Publicidad]