California Sues Trump Administration Over ‘Unlawful Tariffs’
California Governor Gavin Newsom (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump (R). X/ @dqc1985
April 16, 2025 Hour: 2:38 pm
Forty percent of goods movements in the U.S. come through two Californian ports, Governor Newson recalled.
On Wednesday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California is suing President Donald Trump’s administration over the sweeping “unlawful tariffs” on international trading partners.
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“President Trump’s unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses, and our economy – driving up prices and threatening jobs. We’re standing up for American families who can’t afford to let the chaos continue,” he said.
“Donald Trump does not have the authority to impose these destructive and chaotic tariffs. America stands to lose too much. We’re taking him to court,” Newson added.
“California is the largest manufacturing state in our union, one of the largest trading partners around the globe. No state will be impacted more than the state of California as it relates to the unilateral authority that’s been asserted by the Trump administration to impose the largest tax increases in modern American history,” he noted.
“In America, forty percent of goods movements in this country come through two ports of entry in California. About 50 percent of that from China itself,” Newson pointed out.
In the lawsuit, expected to be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, California officials will argue that the law, known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Trump cited to impose the tariffs, does not grant him the ability to unilaterally adopt those tariffs.
California, also the most populated U.S. state, is the first state in the nation to sue Trump administration on tariffs. The Golden State is the largest importer among all U.S. states, with more than US$675 billion in two-way trade supporting millions of jobs throughout the state.
Mexico, Canada and China are California’s top three export destinations, buying nearly US$67 billion in California exports, which was over one-third of the state’s US$183 billion in exported goods in 2024.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: Xinhua
