Washington is one of 24 states suing the Trump administration over its latest attempt to impose worldwide tariffs without congressional approval.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade on Thursday, seeks to block President Donald Trump's new 15% tariff on most products across the globe, arguing it's illegal, subverts constitutional separation of powers, and defies the Administrative Procedure Act.
"Washington consumers already paid for the previous tariffs imposed by the President, and these latest illegal tariffs will continue to extract more of our hard-earned dollars for absolutely no reason," Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said in a news release announcing the suit. "Our state should not be subjected to this damaging economic whiplash."
Trump's latest tariffs were announced just after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump's use of emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) for more than a year.
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Instead of relying on IEEPA this time, Brown said Trump "turned to a separate law that has never been used before" — Section 122 of the Trade Act of 122 — "seemingly to address trade deficits."
But Brown, along with Democratic leaders from 23 other states, argues that law does not apply in this scenario.
"That law authorizes tariffs in limited circumstances, including when there are 'large and serious balance-of-payments deficits,'" Brown said. "Notably, a trade deficit is not a balance-of-payment deficit, meaning that once again the President is acting unlawfully."
While Trump's newest tariffs "are not exactly the same" as the old ones, Brown predicts they'd cause "similar harm" — and that's a big deal in a state like Washington, where 40% of all jobs are linked to international trade.
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Brown also pointed to an analysis of the president's previous tariffs by the state's Office of Financial Management, which predicted that tariff-related disruptions would put about 30,000 jobs at risk, stunt the state's economic growth, and cause decreases in state and local tax revenue.
The case is being led by attorneys general from Oregon, California, Arizona, and New York. In addition to Washington, the states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin have also joined the lawsuit.
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