Trump's New Tariffs Are Being Sued by a Coalition of 25 Democratic-Led States

U.S. President Donald Trump/DOK The White House

JAKARTA - A coalition consisting of 25 states of the United States, led by the Democratic Party, sued President Donald Trump's administration regarding new tariffs of up to 12.5 percent imposed on goods from 60 trading partners.

The lawsuit is based on the argument that Trump has no legal authority to impose the tariffs.

As reported by ANTARA from Kyodo, Tuesday, August 4, the lawsuit filed with the US International Trade Court in New York stated that the Trump administration could not use the issue of forced labor as an excuse to continue the tariff scheme which was considered illegal.

The legal action was taken after the US at the end of July to set tariffs of 10 percent or 12.5 percent on products from 60 major trading partners, including China, Japan, and the European Union.

The Trump administration accused the countries of failing to stop imports of goods produced with forced labor practices.

The policy was enacted after the global tariff of 10 percent, which Trump announced in February, lost its legal basis due to a US Supreme Court ruling.

The ruling also overturned the reciprocal tariffs, which were applied on a country-by-country basis, as well as related additional levies on products from China, Canada, and Mexico.

The coalition of states asked the court to declare the new tariff policy illegal, stop its implementation, and order the return of the tax funds that the plaintiffs had paid.

Critics say the tariffs are simply a replacement for a previous tariff policy that was overturned by the court, rather than to address forced labor issues.

"Regardless of how the government tries to justify it, our laws and constitution have made it clear that the president does not have the authority to impose massive tariffs on any country he wants," said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

In addition to New York, the lawsuit was also filed by Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Virginia, and a number of other states.

Previously, a similar lawsuit was also filed by a group of US small businesses on July 24, coinciding with the start of the implementation of the new tariff policy.