New Mexico joined a lawsuit with nearly a dozen other states challenging the tariffs that have rocked the stock market and, experts warn, will impact the overall global economy.
The lawsuit, led by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, targets the tariffs that have been at the center of President Donald Trump’s economic plan since beginning his second term this year.
The lawsuit says the imposition of tariffs violates Article I of the U.S. Constitution, which grants Congress the “power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises.”
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the tariffs are “unlawful” and will raise costs for all Americans.
“We were promised that prices would go down—but instead, these tariffs are driving up the cost of everyday goods for families across the country,” Torrez said. “Without a legitimate state of emergency, the President does not have the authority to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs that hurt working Americans. Our communities should not have to shoulder the burden of bad policy decisions, and I will see this lawsuit through to ensure the American people are protected from unnecessary and unjustified financial strain.”
At issue is a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president the ability to make certain regulations on foreign transactions in an emergency. The lawsuit said no president has utilized the power to impose tariffs in the way Trump has.
The suit says Congress has only authorized the president to impose tariffs if a country or country in a company has its own similar subsidy of a product imported in the United States, and even then only after an agency investigates and enters a “final determination of whether or not a countervailable subsidy is being provided with respect to the subject merchandise.”
The lawsuit also says that under IEEPA, tariffs can only be applied under an emergency, which requires an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”