Trump administration sued by 25 states over new tariffs on trading partners

The states claim the new levies are a pretext to re-impose tariffs that were ruled illegal by the US Supreme Court.A group of 25 Democratic-led states has sued Donald Trump’s administration over its latest tariffs, claiming that the US president has exceeded his legal authority to implement the levies.The lawsuit, filed in the US Court of International Trade on Monday, targets new double-digit tariffs imposed on 60 trading partners last month over allegations they were not doing enough to stop the importation of goods produced with forced labour.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Why has Trump refused to renew the USMCA, and what will that mean?list 2 of 3Did the US just start a trade war with Brazil?list 3 of 3Trump’s latest ‘forced labour tariffs’: Who’s been hit, how badly?end of listThese latest tariffs took effect just as the clock ran out on temporary tariffs that Trump had turned to after the Supreme Court struck down his flagship “liberation day” levies in a February ruling.“After losing at the Supreme Court, the administration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.The states that sued over the new tariffs, including Oregon and New York, all have Democratic attorneys general or governors.In response, White House spokesman Kush Desai said the levies were an appropriate and legal response to unfair trade practices in other nations.“A foreign country’s failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is unreasonable and burdens US commerce, including American workers, and must be addressed,” Desai said.Revive US manufacturingTrump, who argues that high tariffs will revive US manufacturing, last year overturned decades of Washington policy that favoured lower tariffs and ever-freer trade.