Attorney General James and Governor Hochul Announce Lawsuit Against Trump Administration to Stop Latest Round of Illegal Tariffs

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that New York joined a coalition of 24 other states in suing the Trump administration for again implementing illegal tariffs on dozens of countries that will raise costs for consumers and businesses nationwide. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the President’s sweeping tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Court of International Trade struck down tariffs imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act, the administration is trying yet again to implement illegal tariffs, this time under Section 301 of the Trade Act. While the administration claims to be using Section 301 to combat forced labor in global trade, the lawsuit argues that this is a pretext for imposing the same sweeping tariffs the administration has repeatedly tried and failed to enact. The administration has violated the law by failing to follow Section 301’s requirements for imposing tariffs and implementing new tariffs without any clear connection to their stated goal of combatting forced labor practices. Attorney General James, Governor Hochul, and the coalition are asking the Court of International Trade to declare these tariffs illegal.

“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 Attorney General James. “No matter how the administration tries to justify it, the law and our Constitution are clear that the president does not have the power to impose sweeping tariffs on whatever countries he wants. I will continue to stand up to this administration’s illegal policies that threaten to raise costs for New Yorkers.”

“President Trump’s illegal tariffs are nothing more than a tax on hardworking families, driving up the cost of groceries, household essentials, building materials, and countless everyday goods that New Yorkers rely on,” said Governor Hochul. “The Supreme Court has made it clear that this administration cannot ignore the law to impose sweeping tariffs. I will not stand by as New Yorkers continue to suffer the consequences of the President’s trade war, and I’m proud to join Attorney General James in fighting back against the Trump administration to protect families and businesses across our state.”  

Section 301 gives the United States Trade Representative (USTR) the authority to take action to stop a trading partner’s “unreasonable or discriminatory” acts or policies. In March 2026, the Trump administration announced investigations into 59 countries and the European Union (EU) under Section 301, claiming to investigate forced labor practices in global trade. On July 23 – the day that the previous round of tariffs the administration tried to implement under Section 122 were set to expire – the administration enacted sweeping new tariffs on the EU and these countries under Section 301.

Investigations into single countries under Section 301 are complex and typically take up to a year to complete. Attorney General James and Governor Hochul argue that the administration’s tariffs based on a supposed investigation into countries’ efforts to combat forced labor do not satisfy the requirements of Section 301. Instead, the administration is using “forced labor” as an excuse to continue its policy of indiscriminately enacting damaging tariffs on a wide range of countries. The lawsuit explains that a previous investigation into Brazil for its digital trade, tariff, and anti-corruption enforcement policies, which resulted in a tariff proposal in June 2018, took nearly a year. A similar investigation into China lasted more than eight months. In this case, the administration claims to have investigated the policies and economies of 60 trading partners in less than three months in order to justify its tariffs.

The lawsuit details how the tariffs are arbitrarily imposed with little connection to the administration’s stated goal of combatting forced labor. For example, the tariffs contain product exemptions that undermine their supposed goal. The administration’s report on its investigation identified just three products made with forced labor to justify tariffs on dozens of countries. Yet one of these, frozen beef from Brazil, is exempted from the tariffs.

In addition, countries with and without mechanisms to prevent the use of forced labor are treated similarly under these new tariffs. The tariffs are also applied equally to raw materials and finished goods, with no regard to how likely certain products are to be made with forced labor. The lawsuit explains that USTR failed to engage with testimony from countries and comments submitted during the shortened development of these tariffs, which overwhelmingly contradicted the administration’s claims that the tariffs would address the harms of forced labor.

Attorney General James and Governor Hochul argue that the administration has violated the Administrative Procedure Act by imposing these tariffs. The administration failed to conduct a meaningful investigation or engage substantively with testimony and comments submitted, and then arbitrarily applied across-the-board tariffs to a sweeping range of countries and products with no meaningful explanation for how the tariff rates would combat forced labor. The lawsuit also argues that USTR’s authority under Section 301 is limited to specific circumstances and subject to rigorous procedural requirements, and that Congress has only delegated limited tariff authority to the executive branch. Attorney General James and Governor Hochul seek a court order declaring the tariffs illegal.

Joining Attorney General James and Governor Hochul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, along with the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.