A coalition of 25 US states, nearly all with Democratic governors, filed a lawsuit on Monday against President Donald Trump’s administration over tariffs imposed last month under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The states asked the US Court of International Trade in New York to declare the duties unlawful, halt their implementation, and order the government to issue refunds for tariffs already collected. The tariffs, which range from 10 to 12.5 percent, were imposed after probes by the Office of the US Trade Representative into allegations of forced labour in dozens of trading partners.

The states argued in their court filing that the administration had exceeded its authority. “There is no rational fit between the purported problem of forced labour in international supply chains and the blanket global tariffs the USTR imposed,” the complaint states. “The administration cannot use forced labour as a pretext to continue its illegal tariff scheme.” The White House defended the tariffs as legal. “Section 301 tariffs have proven to be a legally durable tool since the president’s first term, and they remain so now,” said Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson.

The lawsuit comes after previous tariff rounds were struck down by the US Supreme Court in February, which prompted tens of billions of dollars in refunds to companies. The current duties, covering roughly 99.4 percent of US imports according to the Office of the USTR, replaced a 10 percent global levy that expired on 24 July. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said: “President Trump’s illegal tariffs are nothing more than a tax on hardworking families.” The coalition includes Arizona, California, Maryland, Nevada, New York, and 20 other states; Nevada and Vermont have Republican governors.

From Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated her government’s opposition to the tariffs and called for strengthening North American economic integration under the USMCA rather than imposing barriers. In Washington, analysts note the case is likely to climb the judicial ladder. Vadim Kozlov, a researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for US and Canadian Studies, said the dispute will “almost inevitably” reach the Supreme Court, where he said a “small advantage” may lie with the states, given that the court has already ruled against earlier Trump tariffs. The lawsuit is the latest legal challenge to the administration’s trade policy; its next procedural steps have not been announced.