12 US states drag Trump to court over tariffs

A coalition of 12 American states has filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s controversial tariff policy, arguing that the former president overstepped his authority by imposing the levies without congressional approval.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes didn’t hold back in a statement released Wednesday, calling the tariffs “insane,” “economically reckless,” and most importantly — “illegal.”

“President Trump’s insane tariff scheme is not only economically reckless — it is illegal,” Mayes said, as Arizona joined forces with other Democratic-led states including Minnesota, New York, and Oregon in the legal challenge.

President Donald Trump has sent markets into tumult in his second term, turning decades of free trade policy on its head with his “Liberation Day” announcements of new tariffs against numerous countries.

READ ALSO: Trump suspends $2.2bn funding for Harvard University

Trump has imposed an additional 145 percent import duties on China, and Beijing responded with its own 125 percent tariffs on US goods. On Wednesday, Trump told reporters he’s working on a “fair deal with China.”

Meanwhile he has imposed 10 percent tariffs on other trade partners — and he is threatening more punishing levies.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the states argue that the 1977 law invoked by Trump does not allow him to use emergency measures to impose tariffs, a power constitutionally reserved for Congress.

“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 lawsuit alleges.

Trump has said his protectionist policy will return manufacturing jobs to the United States.

“No matter what the White House claims, tariffs are a tax that will be passed on to Arizona consumers,” Mayes said.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Trump’s approval rating has fallen steadily during his first three months in office, hitting a low of 44 percent this week.

Democrats are seizing the opportunity to illustrate how his policies are hurting pocketbooks.

Last week, California Governor Gavin Newsom called Trump’s tariff policy “the worst own-goal in the history of this country.”