Attorney General Ellison sues Trump Administration to stop latest round of illegal tariffs

Joins lawsuit filed by 24 states to block illegal tariffs that are increasing prices on American consumers and businesses

March 5, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Today, Attorney General Keith Ellison and a coalition of attorneys general filed a lawsuit to block President Trump’s latest efforts to impose illegal tariffs on American consumers and businesses. The case challenges President Trump’s most recent efforts to increase tariffs worldwide without congressional approval.

"When Donald Trump imposed his illegal tariffs and raised costs for families across Minnesota, I sued him and won at the Supreme Court,” said Attorney General Ellison. “To be clear: by May of 2025, the federal court that is uniquely responsible for dealing with tariffs and trade issues, the Court of International Trade, unanimously ruled that Trump’s tariffs were illegal. Yet, he did not change course, and he fought to keep imposing those unconstitutional costs on Americans for another nine months until the Supreme Court confirmed what he had already been told: he does not have the power to do this. But here we are again. Almost immediately after Trump’s first round of tariffs were struck down, he imposed a new round of illegal tariffs under an even more flimsy legal theory. Once again, I have no choice but to take Donald Trump to court to uphold the rule of law and protect Minnesotans’ pocketbooks from the damage his tariffs will cause.” 

For more than a year, President Trump has inflicted chaos on the American economy by imposing tariffs without the legal authority to do so.  Initially, the President claimed that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) allowed him to impose tariffs of any amount, on any product, from any country, for any length of time.  In May 2025, the Court of International Trade unanimously ruled that IEEPA did not grant Trump the authority to impose the tariffs. The Trump Administration could have lifted the tariffs at that time, but instead, fought to keep the tariffs in place for nine months until the Supreme Court weighed in. Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court rejected the President’s claimed authority, concluding that the IEEPA tariffs were unlawful.

Rather than accepting that loss in court, President Trump immediately turned to a separate law that has never been used before—Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974—and announced 15 percent tariffs on most products worldwide, seemingly to address trade deficits.  But Section 122 does not apply.  That law authorizes tariffs in limited circumstances, including when there are “large and serious balance-of-payments deficits.”  Notably, a trade deficit is not a balance-of-payment deficit, meaning that once again the President is acting unlawfully.

A recent analysis by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concluded that nearly 90 percent 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, President Trump is doubling down on failed economic policies. 

Beth Benike, the owner of Minnesota-based Busy Baby estimated that she has had to spend roughly $50,000 on tariffs since Trump enacted his first unlawful tariff scheme that Attorney General Ellison challenged and defeated in court. In 2024, her business brought in $4.7 million in revenue. She estimated that revenue would be roughly $5 million in 2025, but it ended up under $2 million due to difficulties maintaining inventory due to Trump’s tariffs. Sadly, Benike is far from alone in struggling to run a business due to Trump’s chaotic, expensive, and unlawful tariff regime.

Today’s lawsuit challenges this latest round of tariffs.  The complaint contends that these actions by President Trump and his administration violate the law, upend constitutional separation of powers, and violate the Administrative Procedure Act.

The case is entitled State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump, et al. and was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

The case is led by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.  Also joining the lawsuit in addition to Attorney General Ellison are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.