Twenty-five Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the Trump administration’s latest tariffs on goods from 60 U.S. trading partners. The case, brought in the U.S. Court of International Trade, argues that President Donald Trump exceeded his legal authority by imposing duties of 10% or 12.5% on most imports from economies representing 99.4% of U.S. imports.
The states want the court to block the tariffs, declare them unlawful, and require refunds of duties already paid. Their complaint says the administration improperly used Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to rebuild a broad tariff system after courts rejected earlier versions based on other statutes.
Administration officials say the tariffs lawfully address foreign governments’ failure to prevent goods made with forced labor from entering their supply chains. The White House maintains that such policies burden American commerce and workers, and says Section 301 has remained a durable trade enforcement tool.
The lawsuit disputes that justification. It alleges the U.S. Trade Representative completed investigations of 60 economies in roughly two and a half months, failed to conduct required country-specific consultations, and placed countries with differing labor and trade policies into a small number of nearly uniform tariff categories. The states also argue that officials did not connect individual rates to the prevalence of forced-labor goods or provide standards for lifting the duties.
The complaint highlights exemptions it says weaken the administration’s rationale, including an exemption for Brazilian frozen beef, a product cited in a forced-labor example. It also notes that the tariffs were announced July 23, one day before temporary duties under another provision expired.
The case follows court rulings against tariffs imposed under emergency and temporary trade authorities. A group of businesses has filed a similar challenge, leaving courts to decide whether the administration’s approach complies with Section 301’s legal limits.