CHICAGO – In a case brought by Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a coalition of 24 state attorneys general, a court entered an order invalidating President Trump’s latest efforts to impose illegal tariffs on products purchased by American consumers and businesses. Calling Trump’s actions “contrary to law,” a federal court granted summary judgment, striking down those tariffs.
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“I applaud this judgement, holding President Trump and his administration accountable for doubling down on his failed economic policies by imposing another round of price increases on Americans,” Raoul said. “This is a huge win for hardworking Americans who do not deserve to foot the bill for the administration’s unlawful tariffs.”
For more than a year, President Trump has unlawfully attempted to impose tariffs on essential goods purchased by American consumers and businesses. Initially, the president invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—but the Supreme Court ruled those tariffs were unlawful. The president then attempted to use a different law that has never been used before to tax imports—Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974—and imposed 10 percent tariffs on most products worldwide, supposedly in response to trade deficits.
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that those tariffs are illegal, too. Section 122 allows tariffs only when there are “large and serious balance-of-payment deficits.” But no such thing exists—a trade deficit is not a balance-of-payment deficit. As the court ruled, the President’s tariffs proclamation “is invalid, and the tariffs imposed on Plaintiffs are unauthorized by law.”
Raoul and the coalition filed a lawsuit in March to stop the most recent round of illegal tariffs because they upended constitutional separation of powers and violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
This came after an April 2025 lawsuit to block the administration’s first attempt to impose illegal tariffs because, as the suit explained, only Congress can “lay and collect” taxes. When imposing the first round of tariffs, the administration’s executive orders stated the powers are granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; however, that law applies only when an emergency presents an “unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad. Raoul and the coalition argued in short that the law does not give the president the power to impose these tariffs.
Joining Raoul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
