California sues Trump administration to block tariffs

California on Wednesday filed a lawsuit seeking to block U.S. President Donald Trumps sweeping tariffs on foreign trading partners, accusing him of abusing his powers and inflicting financial harm on the state and nation.

Trump imposed 10% tariffs on goods from all countries and higher tariffs for countries the administration says have high barriers to U.S. imports, most of which he later paused for 90 days. He also imposed a 145% tariff on China, with exceptions for certain electronics.

China has retaliated with a 125% tariff against the U.S., and the European Union has approved tariffs to retaliate as well, though they are currently paused.

In executive orders imposing the tariffs, Trump has invoked laws including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, which gives presidents special powers to combat unusual or extraordinary threats to the U.S. The Republican president has said that the United States net trade deficit relative to the rest of the world is a national emergency endangering its manufacturing capacity and making it dependent on foreign adversaries.

In Wednesdays lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, both Democrats, allege that the 1977 law does not give the president the power to impose sweeping tariffs without the consent of Congress by unreasonably declaring a state of emergency.

California, which on its own would be the worlds fifth-largest economy and whose main trading partners are China, Mexico and Canada, has already been harmed and stands to be harmed further if the tariffs remain in place, Newsom and Bonta allege.

They are asking the court to bar the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection from enforcing the tariffs.

The Trump administration already faces two similar lawsuits - one in the New York-based Court of International