State Officials Say California Faces Biggest Risk from Proposed Tariffs

In a statement released on Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom of California said that his state will be filing a lawsuit to challenge the authority of President Trump to impose sweeping tariffs that have sparked a worldwide trade war.

One of the arguments that will be made in the lawsuit is that it is illegal for President Trump to utilize the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, or to put a 10% tariff on all imports. It is possible for a president to freeze and prohibit transactions as a response to threats from other countries thanks to this act.

According to a press statement issued by Newsom’s office, the case, which will be submitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, will argue that the United States Congress must provide its permission before such tariffs can be implemented.

“No other state will be more impacted by the impacts of this,” Newsom stated during a press conference that took place on Wednesday in the Central Valley. The press conference was held alongside California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“Already, vendors have warned us that they’re going to pass the costs of Trump’s tariffs onto the state of California,” Bonta explained to reporters.

Bonta and Newsom pointed out that this will be the fourteenth lawsuit that the state of California has filed against the administration of President Trump in a span of less than fourteen weeks.

“We’re asking the court to rein in the president,” Bonta explained to reporters.

Mr. Trump has provided numerous explanations for hiking tariffs, one of which is that they are intended to stimulate manufacturing in the United States and to halt the flow of illegal fentanyl entering the country for his administration. The decision brought forth by California comes in the wake of the Trump administration’s fast shifting tariff proposals. Last week, the United States government temporarily imposed harsh “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries. However, since then, the majority of those tariffs have been halted for a period of ninety days. However, President Trump has maintained a 10% duty on the majority of imported goods and increased the levies on imports from China to a total of 145%.

The state of California, which has the greatest economy among the states and is a massive exporter of commodities, has suffered billions of dollars in damage as a result of the tariffs, according to Newsom, who stated that the tariffs have, in effect, generated inflated costs.

“No state is poised to lose more than the state of California,” Newsom stated in an interview.

The state of California has become the first state in the United States to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration about tariffs. A request to immediately block the tariffs will be made by the state to the court.

It is only a few days since Newsom made the request that countries exempt California goods from retaliatory tariffs that this declaration was made. There have been no deals announced as of yet.