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Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
California launches legal challenge against Trump's ‘illegal' tariffs
California is preparing to ask a court to block Donald Trump's 'illegal' tariffs, accusing the president of overstepping his authority and causing 'immediate and irreparable harm' to the world's fifth-largest economy. The lawsuit, to be filed in federal court on Wednesday by California's governor, Gavin Newsom, and attorney general, Rob Bonta, is the most significant challenge yet to Trump's flurry of on-again-off-again tariffs. In the complaint, California officials argue that the US constitution explicitly grants Congress the power to impose tariffs and that the president's invocation of emergency powers to unilaterally escalate a global trade war, which has rattled stock markets and raised fears of recession, is unlawful. 'No state is poised to lose more than the state of California,' Newsom said, formally unveiling the lawsuit during a press conference at an almond farm in the Central valley on Wednesday. 'It's a serious and sober moment, and I'd be … lying to you if I said it can be quickly undone.' Related: After losing homes and businesses, LA wildfire victims face a hurdle to rebuilding: Trump's tariffs Invoking a statute known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), Trump has issued a series of declarations imposing, reversing, delaying, restarting and modifying tariffs on US trading partners. The complaint argues that the law does not give the US president the authority to impose tariffs without the consent of Congress. It asks the court to declare Trump's tariff orders 'unlawful and void' and to order the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection to stop enforcing them. 'The president is yet again acting as if he's above the law. He isn't,' Bonta said at the press conference on Wednesday, noting that it was the state's 14th lawsuit against the Trump administration in less than 14 weeks. 'Bottom line: Trump doesn't have the singular power to radically upend the country's economic landscape. That's not how our democracy works.' Trump has said tariffs are necessary to ensure 'fair trade', protect American workers and turn the US into an 'industrial powerhouse'. In a statement responding to the lawsuit, White House spokesman Kush Desai said the administration was 'committed' to the president's trade strategy. '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. Newsom said his office had informed the White House in advance that it was bringing this lawsuit, but that the governor has not spoken to the president directly about it. Earlier this month, on what he called 'liberation day', the president imposed a sweeping 10% tariff on nearly all imported goods and higher tariffs for a host of countries, most of which he later paused for 90 days. A 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, the US's largest trading partners, remains in effect, while Trump's actions have provoked a trade war with China, its third-largest trading partner, subject to US tariffs of 145%. California, the US's largest importer and second-largest exporter with an economy larger than most countries, relies heavily on trade with Mexico, Canada and China, the state's top trading partners. The complaint says the economic consequences of Trump's tariffs on the state will be 'significant'. California is the first US state to bring a lawsuit against the Trump administration's tariff policies. Earlier this week, a legal advocacy group filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of US businesses that import goods from countries targeted by the levies, asking the US court of international trade to block Trump's tariffs. Newsom said said the economic consequences of the tariffs would be reflected in a revised budget proposal he will submit next month. 'Across the spectrum, the impacts are off the charts.' 'Regardless of all the scientific and engineering advances, farming is still hard work, and the weather makes every year a gamble,' said Christine Gemperle, who hosted the governor and attorney at her almond farm. 'The last thing we need is more uncertainty and not knowing whether we can ride this one out.' California is the nation's top agricultural exporter, shipping nuts, tomatoes, wine and rice around the world. California's agricultural exports totalled nearly $24bn in 2022. After Trump's announcement of across-the-board levies, Newsom said his administration would pursue new trade deals with international partners to exempt California from retaliatory tariffs. It also launched a campaign to encourage Canadian tourism to California, which has fallen dramatically in response to the Trump administration's policies. Newsom called the effort a 'sign of the times'. 'We talk about own goals. We talk about stupidity,' he said of Trump's pursuit of a global trade war. 'This needs to be updated in the next Wikipedia or the next encyclopedia as a poster child for that.'
New York Times
30-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Judge Temporarily Blocks Border Patrol's Stop-and-Arrest Tactics in California
In January, Border Patrol agents conducted sweeps through immigrant communities in California's Central Valley, arresting nearly 80 individuals the agency said were unlawfully present in the United States. Officials said the operation, named 'Return to Sender,' was intended to target undocumented immigrants with serious criminal backgrounds. But lawyers for those arrested argued that the agents had simply rounded up people who appeared to be day laborers and farm workers, regardless of their actual immigration status, without having a legally sound reason to suspect they were in the country illegally. On Tuesday, a federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction barring Border Patrol agents from stopping individuals without having a reasonable suspicion of illegal presence, as required by the Fourth Amendment. The judge also blocked agents from making warrantless arrests unless they have probable cause to believe the person is likely to flee before a warrant can be obtained. The Trump administration has adopted increasingly aggressive tactics in pursuit of its goal of mass deportations, but has faced pushback from the judiciary. The California ruling marks the latest attempt by courts to rein in enforcement actions that appear to conflict with long-established constitutional and legal protections. Judge Jennifer L. Thurston of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California noted in her ruling that the government did not 'dispute or rebut' the 'significant anecdotal evidence' from the plaintiffs regarding Border Patrol's stop-and-arrest practices. The preliminary injunction, which applies to the federal district where the sweeps occurred, will remain in place as the case precedes. A scheduling conference is planned for early June. The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for the plaintiffs praised the decision. 'You cannot stop people based on how they look,' said Elizabeth Strater, a national vice president of United Farm Workers, a labor union. 'This ruling upholds the basic standards of law in the country.' The Border Patrol operation, carried out in Kern County, which includes Bakersfield, Calif., targeted areas heavily reliant on immigrant labor for agriculture. Agents monitored places including a Home Depot and gas stations frequented by undocumented people. Gregory K. Bovino, a Border Patrol chief in Southern California, described the operation at the time as an 'overwhelming success.' He said in a series of social media posts that it had resulted in the arrests of 78 people who were in the country illegally, including a handful with 'serious criminal histories.' Advocates for farmworkers, however, said that many of those detained had no criminal records and that the raids had terrorized immigrant communities. In February, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the federal government on behalf of United Farm Workers and five Kern County residents, claiming that Border Patrol agents stopped and arrested individuals regardless of their immigration status or individual circumstances. The order granting the preliminary injunction cited public data from Border Patrol stating that of the 78 people arrested during the operation, 77 did not have a criminal or immigration history that was known before their arrest.
