Attorney General pushes back on latest Trump Administration plan for illegal tariffs

Trump’s third attempt to impose illegal tariffs on nearly all U.S. imports comes after courts struck down the first two attempts when AG Ellison challenged them

More than 90 percent of costs of tariffs paid by consumers and businesses

July 6, 2026 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and a coalition of 21 other states are urging the Trump Administration to change course and drop the Trump Administration’s latest plan to continue Trump’s illegal tariffs. In a comment letter Attorney General Ellison and the coalition sent to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today, they push back on the USTR’s latest proposal for tariffs on the European Union and 59 other countries that account for nearly all imports to the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against their first attempt in February, and the Court of International Trade struck down their second attempt in May. Attorney General Ellison and a coalition of attorneys general filed both prior successful lawsuits against Trump’s illegal tariffs.

“Donald Trump just can’t keep himself from trying to wreck America’s economy, so once again, I’m pushing back to protect Minnesota consumers, businesses, and farmers from potentially more illegal tariffs,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Trump’s determined to make billionaires richer and the rest of us poorer, and as we all know by now, he’s determined to break the law to do it — and he’s done his best to do both those things when he’s imposed tariffs before. Once again, I’m joining my fellow attorneys general in standing up for the rest of us and standing up for the rule of law. We won’t sit by and let him break the law and impose more chaos on America’s economy and Americans’ livelihoods.”

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 February 2026, the Supreme Court rejected that argument, concluding that the IEEPA tariffs were unlawful. President Trump immediately turned to a separate law that had never been used before — Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — and announced 10 percent tariffs on most products worldwide. Minnesota and 23 other states successfully challenged those tariffs as well.

Now, Trump has pursued another pretextual misuse of federal law to accomplish the same goal. Specifically, Trump has directed the USTR to use its investigative authority to reach a foregone conclusion in support of sweeping tariffs. Under federal law, the USTR has authority to pursue investigations into certain economic and trade issues, including forced labor in global trade. However, those investigations have typically focused on only one country’s economy or trade activities at a time, and each investigation has typically been conducted over 12-18 months. In contrast, Trump has directed the USTR to mass-investigate, on a condensed timetable, the European Union and 59 other countries, which together account for 99.4 percent of all U.S. imports, to determine whether those countries are doing enough to combat forced labor in global trade.

Two and a half months later, the USTR’s report unsurprisingly landed on the same conclusion Trump wanted all along: 10 percent tariffs on 14 economies, 12.5 percent tariffs on the other 46, with the exact same exceptions as before and no explanation of how the new tariffs will combat forced labor.

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 yet another round of price increases on American consumers and businesses, President Trump is tripling down on failed economic policies.

In today’s letter, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition argue that this latest round of tariffs is illegal, outside the scope of the authority Congress gave the USTR, and unsupported by evidence.

Joining Attorney General Ellison in the comment letter are Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who the led the coalition, and the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.