New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul are taking on the Trump administration with a lawsuit over what they call illegal tariffs, a move that could send economic ripples far beyond the Empire State. New York, together with a cohort of 11 other states, asserts that the sweeping tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) have subjected Americans to unprecedented tax hikes without the approval of Congress, as reported by the New York Attorney General's office.
The case, filed in the United States Court of International Trade, challenges the legal basis of the tariffs that President Trump has unrolled through various executive orders and social media proclamations and which have come to encompass imports from nearly every nation—and even tariffs on Heard and McDonald Islands, with their total absence of human inhabitants. Citing that they have already spurred significant economic turmoil, the lawsuit spearheaded by New York seeks a court order to halt these tariffs, including the worldwide ones momentarily halted on April 9th, to prevent further enforcement or implementation of these tariffs, an initiative backed by states from Arizona to Vermont.
"The president does not have the power to raise taxes on a whim, but that’s exactly what President Trump has been doing with these tariffs," argued Attorney General James, pointing to the repercussions expected to follow, such as escalated inflation, unemployment, and curtailed economic growth. Governor Hochul joined the sentiment in noting, "President Trump’s reckless tariffs have skyrocketed costs for consumers and unleashed economic chaos across the country,” as stated in a press release from the New York Attorney General's office.
Impacts from the tariffs are anticipated to be particularly acute within New York, with projections of an average family suffering thousands of dollars in additional expenses annually, and the specter of a minor recession caused by the tariffs, which could lead to over 35,000 lost jobs in New York City alone, further figures from said New York Attorney General's office indicate that state agencies could face more than $100 million in added costs as a result of escalated tariff-induced prices this coupled with potential Canadian retaliatory tariffs on electricity imports might spike New York's energy costs significantly and the multifaceted harm from the tariffs is already causing small businesses across the state, including long-standing enterprises like the Central New York-based Cortland Standard newspaper, to grapple with dire financial decisions.
As the contentious legal battle unfolds, the coalition of states has clarified that their objective is a ruling that formally deems the Trump administration's IEEPA tariff orders as contrary to the law, with hopes to foreclose any further tariff enforcement or execution, echoing the five-decade historical precedent that has never before seen IEEPA utilized in such an indiscriminate and unilateral manner.
