Twenty-five US states, nearly all led by Democrats, sued US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday over wide-ranging tariffs, arguing that the president had exceeded his authority in imposing the new levies on dozens of countries, according to AFP.
“There is no rational fit between the purported problem of forced labor in international supply chains and the blanket global tariffs the USTR imposed,” the coalition of states argued in a court filing, referring to the US Trade Representative's office.
New tariffs on 60 trading partners, over allegations they were not doing enough to stop the export of goods produced with forced labor, went into effect last Friday just as a previous 10% global tariff expired.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had defended the move, arguing that the United States has long maintained robust restrictions on imports linked to forced labor and that trading partners should be held to similar standards.
“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century and rigorously enforces it. It's well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” he said.
The imposed new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners, including the EU, India and China, drew strong protests from Beijing and other countries.
The move is the White House's first step in efforts to rebuild Trump's near-global tariff wall after the US Supreme Court in February struck down his “reciprocal” duties of 10% to 50% imposed last year under a national emergencies law to try to shrink the US trade deficit.
Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives Washington the power to investigate unfair foreign trade practices and respond by imposing tariffs or other trade actions.
Greer had earlier defended the use of Section 301 to justify imposing the new tariffs.
