(Image Credit: IMAGN) California Gov. Gavin Newsom goes into the spin room at the Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Simi Valley on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023.
Sacramento, California – California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that the state will sue former President Donald Trump over sweeping tariffs he imposed under emergency authority—measures that Newsom says are wreaking economic havoc on California families and businesses.
The lawsuit, to be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, argues that Trump unlawfully used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs without congressional approval. The legal challenge, brought by Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, seeks an immediate injunction to block the tariffs and declares Trump’s orders “unlawful and void.”
“President Trump’s unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses, and our economy—driving up prices and threatening jobs,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re standing up for American families who can’t afford to let the chaos continue.”
Trump has defended the tariffs as necessary to ensure fair trade and restore American manufacturing. He has imposed a 10% blanket tariff on nearly all imports and higher rates for select countries—including 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico and up to 145% on Chinese imports. The lawsuit claims these actions have already cost California billions in trade losses and disrupted global supply chains.
“From farmers in the Central Valley to small businesses in Sacramento and worried families at the kitchen table, this game the president is playing has very real consequences,” Bonta said.
California, with a $24 billion agricultural export industry and a trade-heavy economy, is particularly vulnerable to tariffs and retaliatory levies. As the nation’s top agricultural exporter and second-largest overall exporter, the state trades extensively with Mexico, Canada, and China—three of the primary targets of Trump’s trade war.
Newsom will appear with Bonta later Wednesday at a press conference in the Central Valley, where many of the state’s farmers have already begun to feel the strain of rising costs and shrinking international demand.
The suit argues that the IEEPA allows the president to restrict transactions in response to specific threats—but not to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs. It calls for the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to stop enforcing the tariffs.
The legal challenge comes on the heels of a similar lawsuit filed earlier this week by a coalition of U.S. importers. Meanwhile, Newsom says California will pursue new trade agreements to shield its exports from retaliatory measures.
“The president’s chaotic and haphazard implementation of tariffs is not only deeply troubling—it’s illegal,” Bonta said.
