Governor Gavin Newsom has declared the readiness of the state of California to commence legal action against President Donald Trump for imposing tariffs on imports into the United States.
Newsom, a Democratic Party member, announced that the lawsuit would challenge the president’s authority to impose sweeping tariffs he said portends risks to the economy of California.
“No other state will be more impacted by the impacts of this,” Newsom emphasised at a briefing on Wednesday, warning that the tariffs will inflate costs and cause loss of billions of dollars.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta informed the public that vendors are already warning that they will “pass the costs of Trump’s tariffs onto the state of California.”
“We’re asking the court to rein in the president,” Bonta said of the lawsuit, the 14th that California has filed against the Trump administration in recent weeks.
California will argue that Trump’s use of presidential powers to impose tariffs on Canada, China, and Mexico was unlawful as such action requires approval from Congress.
The state is challenging the enforcement of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which enables a president to freeze and block transactions in response to foreign threats.
Governor Newsom’s office, in a news release, indicated that the suit will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
