"Trump administration sued by 25 states over new tariffs on trading partners", 4 August 2026

A group of 25 Democratic-led states has sued Donald Trump’s administration over its latest tariffs, claiming that the US president has exceeded his legal authority to implement the levies.

The lawsuit...targets new double-digit tariffs imposed on 60 trading partners...over allegations they were not doing enough to stop the importation of goods produced with forced labour.

These latest tariffs took effect just as the clock ran out on temporary tariffs that Trump had turned to after the Supreme Court struck down his flagship “liberation day” levies...

In response, White House spokesman Kush Desai said the levies were an appropriate and legal response to unfair trade practices in other nations...

The states’ complaint...argued that the new tariffs used “forced labor” as a pretext to re-impose the tariffs that had already been ruled illegal in court. They said that a sweeping tax on imports would do nothing to address the real problems of forced labour around the world.