Trump’s New Round of Tariffs Met With Legal Challenges From 21 Attorneys General
By Mark Hallum March 5, 2026 2:52 pm
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The Trump administration is facing an even bigger coalition seeking to dismantle the president’s latest efforts to impose a tax on imports.
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced a new lawsuit on Thursday with 21 other chief state prosecutors and two governors looking to topple the 15 percent tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last week.
The legal campaign by the AGs, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, has even more backing than the lawsuit filed by 11 AGs last year. That suit led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Feb. 20 that the “Liberation Day” import taxes were unlawful.
James accused the White House of abusing its power and twisting legal definitions to “bring chaos to the global economy,” in the latest court filing in the United States Court of International Trade.
“Having lost the battle on International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the president now dusts off a separate statute: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. Subsection 2132, which is another statute that has never been used to impose tariffs,” the court filing read. “Indeed, it has never been used at all.”
Section 122, according to the lawsuit, gives the president limited power over tariffs only for large balance-of-payments deficits from importers, which the suit argues is not applicable considering the level of foreign investment in the U.S. economy.
The White House, however, argued that the use of Section 122 for this purpose is valid based on its approval 52 years ago by the legislative branch.
“The president is using his authority granted by Congress to address fundamental international payments problems and to deal with our country’s large and serious balance-of-payments deficits,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement. “The administration will vigorously defend the president’s action in court.”
Trump is not getting a lot of traction with the courts in general lately, with a federal trade-court judge ordering the administration on Wednesday to begin refunding companies a sum of more than $130 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.
About 2,000 big-name companies have filed lawsuits seeking refunds, such as Costco Wholesale, Fedex and Pandora Jewelry.
Gov. Kathy Hochul responded to the Trump administration’s loss in the Supreme Court by demanding that the U.S. Department of the Treasury instead issued tariff refunds to New Yorkers and small businesses, who largely carried the brunt of increased costs.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
