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Among US states, California is leading the charge against President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
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The state on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court challenging the levies.
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It’s the biggest move that Gov. Gavin Newsom has made against Trump’s second administration.
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California is escalating his war against President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
On Wednesday, the governor sued to immediately block the tariffs, with the high-profile Democrat describing the levies as “unlawful and unprecedented.”
The legal action is a dramatic escalation in the tense relationship between the two leaders.
Newsom and the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, filed the lawsuit in San Francisco federal court, which represents the first challenge from a US state against the president’s tariff plan.
“This is recklessness at another level. The geopolitical impacts are outsized. The trade impacts are outsized,” Newsom said alongside Bonta. “No rationale, no plan, no conscience to what it’s doing to real people.”
The two Democrats say Trump’s tariffs will have an immense impact on the California economy, with over 60,000 small-business exporters affected by the president’s plan. The Californians point to important materials like steel and aluminum that are needed to help rebuild after a devastating series of fires in January in the Los Angeles area — along with the effects of prospective “reciprocal” tariffs on farmers in the state’s key agricultural regions.
Bonta on Wednesday said Trump’s tariff policy moves went beyond the scope of his presidential power.
“He is yet again violating the US Constitution, overriding Congress’s authority, and breaching the separation of powers,” the attorney general said.
“It’s simple. Trump does not have the authority to impose these tariffs,” he added.
On April 2, which Trump dubbed “Liberation Day,” the president announced he was implementing “reciprocal” tariffs on select countries, while imposing a 10% baseline tariff on most countries.
Some countries, like China, pushed back against the administration and were hit with higher tariffs.
Trump reversed course days later and issued a 90-day pause on the “reciprocal” tariffs for most countries, but the administration on Wednesday said that China now faces a tariff rate of “up to 245%.”
For now, the administration has issued a pause on “reciprocal” tariffs for computers and laptops, which could have significantly raised the price of electronics for US consumers. But Trump is still mulling tariffs on semiconductors from China.
China has already imposed a 125% tariff on US goods.
Newsom, seen as a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2028, has made other key economic moves since Trump returned to the White House.
The governor this week kicked off a tourism campaign to lure Canadians — many of whom have been spooked by Trump’s trade tussles with their country — back to California for excursions.
And earlier this month, Newsom called on world leaders to make exceptions for California goods amid the implementation of Trump’s trade policy.
“Donald Trump’s tariffs do not represent all Americans, particularly those I represent here in the fifth-largest economy in the world, the state of California,” Newsom said at the time. “California is a stable trading partner, and we hope you remember that as you consider California-made products.”
White House spokesman Kush Desai in a statement criticized the lawsuit.
“Instead of focusing on California’s rampant crime, homelessness, and unaffordability, Gavin Newsom is spending his time trying to block President Trump’s historic efforts to finally address the national emergency of our country’s persistent goods trade deficits,” he said.
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