NY Attorney General Welcomes Court Blocking Trump From Imposing Worldwide Tariffs
NEW YORK, New York – New York Attorney General Letitia James on Wednesday, welcomed the United States Court of International Trade ruling that the Trump administration’s tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) are “invalid and cannot be implemented.”
The court, headquartered in Manhattan, ruled in favor of Attorney General James and a coalition of 11 other attorneys general, who sued the Trump administration in April for violating the law by imposing worldwide tariffs under IEEPA, “causing severe economic damage throughout the country” and around the world, including the Caribbean.
“The law is clear: no president has the power to single-handedly raise taxes whenever they like,” James told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). “These tariffs are a massive tax hike on working families and American businesses that would have led to more inflation, economic damage to businesses of all sizes, and job losses across the country if allowed to continue.
“This decision is a major victory for our efforts to uphold the law and protect New Yorkers from illegal policies that threaten American jobs and economy,” she added.
Attorney General James and the coalition sued the Trump administration for unlawfully imposing tariffs under IEEPA through executive orders, social media posts, and agency orders.
James and the coalition argued that the president has no such power under IEEPA.
However, since February, James said Trump has been “unilaterally imposing sweeping tariffs against America’s closest trading partners and nearly every country on Earth.”
The United States Court of International Trade today ruled that the law does not authorize any of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration under IEEPA, including tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada, and the European Union.
The court found the tariffs to be unlawful and ordered that they be permanently blocked.
“IEEPA does not authorize any of the worldwide, retaliatory, or trafficking tariff orders,” said the three-judge panel in Wednesday’s ruling. “The worldwide and retaliatory tariff orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs.
“The trafficking tariffs fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders,” the panel added.
But White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency.
“President Trump pledged to put America First, and the administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American greatness,” he added.
Joining Attorney General James in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont.
