NY Attorney General Letitia James speaks all the way through a press convention on Feb. 14, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
A dozen states sued President Donald Trump and his management on Wednesday, searching for a court docket order stating that his new price lists on foreign imports are unlawful.
“The president does not have the power to raise taxes on a whim, but that’s exactly what President Trump has been doing with these tariffs,” New York Attorney General Letitia James mentioned in a remark at the lawsuit.
The swimsuit was once filed within the U.S. Court of International Trade in Washington, D.C.
It argues {that a} president has no authority to arbitrarily impose price lists below the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the U.S. regulation that Trump has cited in executing his tariff coverage.
The civil grievance comes greater than per week after a gaggle of 5 small companies filed a an identical lawsuit in opposition to Trump in the similar court docket, difficult the legality of the brand new price lists at the identical grounds.
In addition to New York, the plaintiffs within the new lawsuit come with Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont.
CNBC has asked remark from the White House at the lawsuit.
Since taking workplace, Trump has issued a sequence of govt orders enforcing a spread of price lists on overseas imports, together with a 145% tariff on merchandise made in China, and price lists of 25% on merchandise from Canada and Mexico. Imports from lots of the different international locations on the earth had been slapped with a 10% tariff by means of Trump.
“The Constitution assigns to Congress, not the President, the ‘Power To lay and
collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,’ ” the swimsuit says.
“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 swimsuit says.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes mentioned, “President Trump’s insane tariff scheme is not only economically reckless – it is illegal.”
“Arizona cannot afford President Trump’s massive tax increase. No matter what the White House claims, tariffs are a tax that will be passed on to Arizona consumers,” Mayes mentioned.
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