25 states sue to block Trump's new forced-labor tariffs
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- A coalition of 25 states sued the Trump administration Monday, with New York Attorney General Letitia James calling the new tariffs a "pretext" for replacing import taxes the Supreme Court struck down in February after ruling IEEPA did not authorize them.
- The new tariffs target 59 countries and the EU with double-digit rates over their alleged failure to crack down on forced-labor imports, and took effect just as Trump's temporary 10% worldwide tariffs expired at midnight July 24.
- The administration shifted legal ground to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, under which the forced-labor tariffs range from 10% to 12.5% and hit countries that supply 99% of American imports.
- White House spokesman Kush Desai defended the duties as the United States using its "lawful authority to obtain the elimination of unreasonable acts" and pointed to Section 301's durability from Trump's first-term China tariffs.
- The states' lawsuit follows two earlier July actions at the Court of International Trade by small businesses that argued the government failed to adequately justify the 301 tariffs against each specific economy.
Why it matters: This is the third legal challenge to the new tariff regime, and the first from states — alleging forced-labor enforcement is a cover for the broad trade war the Supreme Court already rejected. Because Section 301 tariffs now cover 99% of imports from penalized countries, a loss could force another refund cycle and strip the administration of its primary remaining tariff tool.
