On Monday, 25 American states, mainly Democrats, took legal action against the new series of customs surcharges wanted by Donald Trump and which came into force at the end of July. The plaintiffs believe that the Republican administration misused a 1974 law to reinstate customs duties already censored by the Supreme Court.

Published on: 03/08/2026 - 23:33 Modified on: 04/08/2026 - 08:19

American justice will, once again, have to rule on the legality of the new series of customs duties wanted by Donald Trump, after a complaint filed Monday by 25 American states, almost all led by Democrats.

“This is the third time that President Trump has attempted to illegally impose tariffs that increase the cost of living for American families and small businesses and the third time that we have sued the government for misuse of its powers,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

This includes the new surcharges, of 10% or 12.5% ​​depending on the country, which came into force on July 24. They came to take over from those temporarily put in place last February, the day after the Supreme Court canceled the majority of customs duties imposed by the American president upon his return to the White House.

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A fast-paced investigation

Around sixty countries, as well as the European Union (EU), are targeted by these surcharges, which represents nearly 99% of American imports. But unlike the initial customs duties, this new series is intended to be more targeted, only applying to a certain number of products for each country and not almost all of them.

In order to justify them, the White House relied on a federal law from 1974, already used in the past, following an investigation carried out at full speed. It only had 150 days – the duration of the temporary customs duties put in place at the end of February – to carry out this investigation, in order to ensure the continuity of the surcharges. It aimed to determine whether the countries concerned were effectively combating the presence of products resulting from forced labor in their supply chains.

According to White House Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer, these surcharges aim to “incentivize (their) trading partners to join the United States in eliminating forced labor from the global supply chain.”

In detail, countries with legislation that the United States considers incomplete are subject to a 10% tax on a certain number of their products. For others, accused of not having adopted such bans, the tax is 12.5%.

Also read: Trump says he “loves” inflation, a “desperate attempt to prove that he is in control of the situation”

A pretext investigation, according to the complainants

In a statement sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP), a White House spokesperson, Kush Desai, assured that “the United States uses its legal authority to obtain the elimination of policies, unreasonable acts and practices that harm American commerce”.

The courts have already authorized certain customs duties on the basis of this same law, but the 25 plaintiff states believe here that the investigation carried out by Washington was only a pretext to reinstate the customs duties canceled last February. Of these 25 states, 23 are led by Democratic governors, while two of them – Nevada and Vermont – are led by Republicans.

According to the complaint, consulted by AFP, they point out in particular the absence of a mechanism so that the sanctioned countries can see the customs duties end if they put an end to the practices denounced, which is contrary to the text of the law.

Based on Jamieson Greer's own communication, they also believe that when the procedure was announced, "there was no mention of forced labor". "The USTR, on the contrary, affirmed that the investigation would be conducted in such a way as to 'ensure continuity' with the customs duties put in place by the government," note the complainants.

“Rather than taking measures that could actually combat forced labor, the USTR reached an inevitable conclusion, in order to impose customs duties close to those” which had been canceled, denounced in a press release the Attorney General of the State of Delaware, Kathy Jennings, who is one of the plaintiffs.

Donald Trump has made customs duties the cornerstone of his economic policy, seeing them as an instrument to encourage businesses to relocate, protect certain key sectors of American industry and finance tax cuts for Americans.

With AFP

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