Attorney General Bonta Continues Opposition to President Trump’s Unlawful Tariff Regime, Urges Court of International Trade to Declare Trump’s Third Attempt Illegal

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Bonta, as part of a coalition of 25 states, filed an amicus brief in the Court of International Trade in Learning Resources v. Trump, a case challenging President Trump’s latest unlawful attempt to tax the states and American consumers through illegal tariffs. In the brief, Attorney General Bonta argues the latest round of tariffs levied under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 are pretextual and are not targeted to address the purported harms of forced labor, as that statute requires, but instead are designed to re-create the tariffs already declared illegal by various courts. Last month, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the Administration’s decision to impose these tariffs on over 80 countries that together account for 99.4% of all U.S. imports — costs that will be passed along to Americans already struggling with affordability.

“President Trump is so intent on raising the cost of living for Americans that he is willing to break law after law to continue his tariff regime,” said Attorney General Bonta. "Imposing these tariffs under Section 301 has nothing to do with forced labor and everything to do with continuing the President’s failed economic policy and reimposing the global tariffs that the Supreme Court invalidated. We urge the Court of International Trade to declare the President’s tariffs under Section 301 illegal. Tariffs are taxes, and the American people cannot and should not shoulder the extra costs that come from the President’s illegal tariffs.” 

BACKGROUND

For more than a year, President Trump has inflicted chaos on the American economy by imposing tariffs without the legal authority to do so, including through illegal attempts using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — attempts that were struck down by multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court of International Trade. A recent analysis concluded that nearly 90% of the costs of tariffs in 2025 were paid by American consumers and businesses. By imposing another round of price increases on American consumers and businesses, the Trump Administration is tripling down on its failed economic policies.

ABOUT THE BRIEF

In the brief, the states highlight evidence exposing the Trump Administration’s stated rationale for the Section 301 tariffs — the forced-labor import practices of certain countries — as merely a pretext, manufactured to sidestep previous court decisions invalidating the Administration’s prior two attempts to unlawfully impose worldwide tariffs. Forced labor is a serious problem and using human rights issues as a tool for the Trump Administration's own destructive economic agenda is wrong. The coalition argues that because the tariffs are pretextual, they violate the Administrative Procedure Act. As evidence, the coalition points to:

The Administration’s own actions show a determination to institute global tariffs and to find any rationale to impose such tariffs when other avenues failed, including by using Section 301. For example, after the IEEPA tariffs were declared illegal, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) stated the Administration would take action “in short order to ensure continuity” including by imposing the Section 122 tariffs. Recognizing Section 122 tariffs were limited by statute to 150 days, the USTR also promised to initiate investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and to “conduct these investigations on an accelerated time frame.” Other Administration officials confirmed this plan: The same day the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared that “[t]his Administration will invoke alternative legal authorities to replace the IEEPA tariffs,” including Section 301, “result[ing] in virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026.” The USTR affirmed that “[b]y the time the five-month period has elapsed, we’ll have completed [the] investigations under Section 301 that Secretary Bessent talked about,” and stated that “the specific authorities this administration is using have changed, but trade strategy has not . . . we are continuing to impose tariffs[.]”

The USTR fast-tracked an investigation into 60 economies at once, without regard to their record on forced labor, in order to re-impose its former tariff regime. The investigation required to impose Section 301 tariffs targeted 60 economies at once, instead of investigating by individual country, and occurred in a very abbreviated 2.5-month timeframe, as opposed to the 12 months or more typical of these inquiries. And USTR’s actual findings under Section 301 do not specify how any country’s forced-labor import practices burden U.S. commerce or explain how global tariffs will eliminate those practices. Further, the USTR identifies no mechanism by which any economy can secure release from the tariffs in exchange for reforms. There are no standards or benchmarks to measure the effectiveness of a country’s new restrictions or improved enforcement. There is no adjustment process, no sunset date, and no plan to revisit these tariffs.

The tariffs’ rate and exemptions track the previous, unlawful tariff regime and were timed to take effect at the exact minute that the prior tariffs expired. The Section 301 tariff rates of 10% and 12.5% largely track the former IEEPA and Section 122 tariffs, which both imposed a baseline 10% tariff on most goods. The Section 301 tariffs also exempt similar goods as the Section 122 tariffs, even when doing so undermines their supposed goal. For example, the Administration’s report on its investigation identified just three products made with forced labor to justify tariffs on dozens of countries. Yet one of these, frozen beef from Brazil, is exempted from the tariffs.

In filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta joined the attorneys general of Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the Governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

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