Overview
- A coalition led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes formally filed objections to the U.S. Trade Representative’s proposed Section 301 tariffs targeting 59 countries and the European Union.
- The USTR proposed two ad valorem tiers — 10% on 15 countries and the EU and 12.5% on the other 44 — a package the agency says would address alleged failures to ban or enforce prohibitions on goods made with forced labor and would cover roughly 99% of U.S. imports.
- The attorneys general say the investigation departed from normal Section 301 practice by reviewing about 60 economies at once and completing the probe in roughly 2.5 months instead of the typical year or more, which they argue produced rushed, generalized findings rather than case‑specific evidence.
- States argue the tariffs are legally flawed because they are not narrowly tailored to remedy forced‑labor harms, repeat steps courts already rejected in earlier IEEPA and Section 122 tariff cases, and are arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.
- If the administration proceeds, the dispute is likely to trigger more litigation and political pushback, and state officials warn the tariffs would function as regressive taxes that raise prices for consumers and disrupt supply chains.