World War Fee President Trump’s reign of tariffs has been challenged on the left and right by the State of California and the Liberty Justice Center.
On April 2, 2025, the White House announced a broad set of tariffs on goods imported into the States, a tax that generally gets passed on to buyers.
The rates [PDF] range from 11 percent, for Cameroon and Democratic Republic of the Congo, to 145 percent to 245 percent for China, depending on the type of products at issue.
Last week, President Trump paused his retaliatory levies for three months and offered to lower the numbers, China excepted, amid a stock and bond market meltdown triggered by his global trade war. This week, the tariff situation remains in flux, leaving businesses and folks in a fog of uncertainty and facing recession if not depression.
The White House argued the tariffs are necessary to, in part, encourage more manufacturing on American soil and reduce the reliance on foreign factories. The Wall Street Journal called the President’s tariffs “the dumbest trade war in history.”
Rob Bonta, California Attorney General, announced a lawsuit [PDF] Wednesday seeking relief from the President’s allegedly unlawful use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) to justify the imposition of his import taxes.
Bonta argues the tariffs will wreak havoc on California’s economy.
“The President’s chaotic and haphazard implementation of tariffs is not only deeply troubling, it’s illegal,” said Bonta. “As the fifth largest economy in the world, California understands global trade policy is not just a game.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom added, “President Trump’s unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses, and our economy – driving up prices and threatening jobs. We’re standing up for American families who can’t afford to let the chaos continue.”
The California Office of the Attorney General claims the tariffs, at the very least, will shrink the US economy by $100 billion annually and increase inflation by 1.3 percent, at a cost to the average American family of $2,100.
The Tax Foundation, a non-profit think tank, estimated “Trump’s tariffs will reduce long-run US GDP by 0.8 percent” before any foreign counter-tariffs are considered.
California’s lawsuit, filed in a federal district court in the north of the state, argues the IEEPA does not give the President the power to impose tariffs.
“In the nearly 50-year history of IEEPA, no President has ever used IEEPA to impose tariffs, prior to the unprecedented actions of President Trump in 2025,” the California complaint reads. “IEEPA further provides that ‘[t]he President, in every possible instance, shall consult with the Congress before exercising any of the authorities granted by this chapter and shall consult regularly with the Congress so long as such authorities are exercised.'”
And no such consultation took place, the legal filing insists.
The Liberty Justice Center (LJC) describes itself as “a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public-interest litigation firm that seeks to protect economic liberty, private property rights, free speech, and other fundamental rights.” Source Watch calls the LJC as a right-wing organization, citing ties to the conservative Illinois Policy Institute.
Nonetheless, the LJC makes similar arguments to those raised by California’s lawsuit in its complaint [PDF] against the White House’s drive to make Americans pay more for their foreign-made stuff, filed with the US Court of International Trade.
“The President of the United States claims the authority to unilaterally levy tariffs on goods imported from any and every country in the world, at any rate, calculated via any methodology – or mere caprice – immediately, with no notice, or public comment, or phase-in, or delay in implementation, despite massive economic impacts that are likely to do severe damage to the global economy,” the LJC complaint argues.
“If actually granted by statute, this power would be an unlawful delegation of legislative power to the executive without any intelligible principle to limit his discretion.
“But Congress has not delegated any such power. The statute the President invokes — the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) – does not authorize the President to unilaterally issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs.”
The LJC lawsuit has been filed on behalf of five businesses allegedly harmed by the tariffs: Beverage importer VOS Selections, e-commerce biz FishUSA, plastic pipe maker Genova Pipe, educational electronics kit maker MicroKits, and cycling apparel firm Terry Precision Cycling.
“No one person should have the power to impose taxes that have such vast global economic consequences,” said Jeffrey Schwab, LJC senior counsel, in a statement. “The Constitution gives the power to set tax rates – including tariffs – to Congress, not the President.”
Both California and the LJC have sought relief from the judicial branch of the US government, which appears to be unable to compel the executive branch to return a man unlawfully deported to El Salvador and imprisoned without charge or trial.
