California is filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the global tariffs it imposed earlier this month.
Gov. Gavin Newsom published a video on social media in which he announced the legal action.
“California is the largest manufacturing state in our Union, one of the largest training partners around the globe,” Newsom said in the video. “No state will be impacted more than the State of California as it relates to the unilateral authority that's being asserted by the Trump administration to impose the largest tax increase in modern American history.”
Donald Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally impose the largest tax hike of our lifetime with his destructive tariffs.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 16, 2025
We’re taking him to court. pic.twitter.com/LAm1NRx300
Newsom made the announcement on Wednesday with Attorney General Rob Bonta. He argued in a statement that Trump’s “unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses, and our economy – driving up prices and threatening jobs,” according to Politico.
The lawsuit is Newsom’s most direct legal challenge to Trump’s agenda since the president retook office in January. The move instantly reignites California’s war with Trump and cements its place atop the resistance, after Newsom spent months appealing to the president for federal disaster relief.
It’s also notable as a unilateral challenge, underscoring the singular importance of the issue in California. Bonta has worked closely with other blue states on previous lawsuits challenging Trump’s immigration policies and federal funding cuts.
Newsom and Bonta’s argument targets the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, the law Trump is using to impose tariffs without congressional approval. The two Democrats argue Trump lacks the authority to levy tariffs under the law, mirroring a similar case filed Monday by a group of U.S. businesses.
Bonta claimed Trump’s approach to tariffs poses “near-daily threats” to California. “The President’s chaotic and haphazard implementation of tariffs is not only deeply troubling, it’s illegal,” the attorney general insisted.
He further stated that, “As the fifth largest economy in the world, California understands global trade policy is not just a game.”
The White House struck back at Newsom over the announcement. White House spokesman Kush Desai told CNBC:
Instead of focusing on California’s rampant crime, homelessness, and unaffordability, Gavin Newsom is spending his time trying to block President Trump’s historic efforts to finally address the national emergency of our country’s persistent goods trade deficits.
The only thing shocking about this story is that it didn’t happen sooner. President Trump imposed the tariffs about two weeks ago. The Desperate Democrats™ have been waging a lawfare campaign against the administration since Trump first took office. It seems anytime he so much as sneezes, Democrats file a lawsuit.
Still, this will likely be the first major legal battle over tariffs that the White House will face. Meanwhile, the president gave most nations a reprieve after he announced a 90-day pause on the duties. However, China was exempted from this move, meaning it remains in a trade war with the United States.
Now that California has pulled the trigger on tariffs, it can be expected that several other blue states will follow suit.
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