Attorney General Jennifer Davenport today joined a multistate coalition of 25 states in filing a second lawsuit against the Trump Administration’s efforts to impose illegal tariffs on American consumers and businesses. The case challenges the Administration’s recent decision to increase tariffs on more than 80 countries that together account for 99.4% of all U.S. imports—costs that will be passed along to Americans already struggling to pay for essentials.
“When we see repeated attempts to impose tariff after tariff—even as courts declare them illegal—it’s ordinary people who ultimately bear the cost,” said Attorney General Davenport. “New Jersey families are paying more for household items, our businesses face uncertainty and find it difficult to plan, and the economic burden keeps falling on the people who can least afford it. We owe it to the families we serve to prioritize keeping prices low, not raising them through illegal tariffs.”
For more than a year, President Trump has inflicted chaos on the American economy by imposing tariffs without the legal authority to do so. Initially, the President claimed that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) allowed him to impose tariffs of any amount, on any product, from any country, for any length of time. In February, the Supreme Court rejected that claim, agreeing with several state attorneys general that the IEEPA tariffs were unlawful. President Trump then turned to a separate law that had never been used before—Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974—and announced 10% tariffs on most products worldwide. But state attorneys general challenged those tariffs, too, and in May the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the President acted unlawfully.
Rather than accepting those losses, President Trump turned to another law—Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974—and directed the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to investigate the European Union and 59 other countries, to determine whether those countries are doing enough to combat forced labor in global trade. Late last month, the USTR did what Trump wanted all along, imposing 10% and 12.5% tariff rates on nearly every economy that trades with the U.S. In other words, instead of taking actions that would actually address forced labor, the USTR reached a foregone conclusion and imposed across-the-board tariffs similar to those that courts have struck down twice before.
Today’s lawsuit challenges this latest round of tariffs. The complaint contends that these actions exceed the administration’s legal authority and violate the United States Trade Representative (USTR) The case was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade and is entitled State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump, et al.
A recent analysis by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concluded that nearly 90% of the costs of tariffs in 2025 were paid by American consumers and businesses. By imposing another round of price increases on American consumers and businesses, the Trump Administration is tripling down on failed economic policies.
Joining Attorney General Davenport in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Oregon, Arizona, and California, which are leading the case, along with Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
