Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul today, as part of a coalition of 24 states, asked the U.S. Court of International Trade to rule in the states’ favor and block implementation of President Trump’s latest efforts to impose illegal tariffs on products purchased by American consumers and businesses.

Raoul and the coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the tariffs earlier this month.

“Despite our clear and decisive Supreme Court win in our first illegal tariffs lawsuit, President Trump has doubled down on his failed economic policies by imposing another round of price increases on Americans,” Raoul said. “Since the Trade Act of 1974 was enacted, no prior president has attempted to use the extraordinary power of Section 122 to unilaterally impose sweeping, arbitrary tariffs. I will continue to fight to prevent hardworking Americans from footing the bill for the Trump administration’s unlawful tariffs.” 

For more than a year, President Trump unlawfully invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and attempted to impose tariffs on essential goods purchased by American consumers and businesses. In April 2025, Raoul and a coalition filed a lawsuit to block the administration’s attempt to impose illegal tariffs because, as the suit explained, only Congress has the power to “lay and collect” taxes.

In February, the Supreme Court rejected the president’s unprecedented and unlawful use of IEEPA and agreed that the tariffs were unlawful. 

Rather than accepting that loss in court, President Trump is now attempting to use a different law that has never been used before, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, to impose 10% tariffs on most products worldwide, apparently in response to trade deficits. But, as Raoul and the attorneys general argue, those tariffs are illegal too. Section 122 allows tariffs only when there are “large and serious balance-of-payment deficits.” A trade deficit is not a balance-of-payment deficit, and so Section 122 does not apply.

The president’s first round of illegal tariffs threatened Illinois’ economy and harmed taxpayers by increasing costs to the state and local governments. For example, the Illinois Department of Transportation alone estimated that over two years, the state’s costs for transportation projects would have been $249 million to $585 million higher due to tariffs.

The Supreme Court’s decision last month might have mitigated those increased costs to the state in construction projects, technology and other expenses, but the newly imposed illegal tariffs again create harms to Illinois’ economy.  

Economic analysis submitted to the court shows that state governments in the 24 plaintiff states stand to pay at least $748 million per year in additional costs due to the new tariffs. Additionally, a recent analysis by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concluded that nearly 90% of the costs of tariffs last year were paid by American consumers and businesses.

Today’s motion asks the U.S. Court of International Trade to order federal agencies to stop collecting the latest round of illegal tariffs by issuing a summary judgment or, in the alternative, a preliminary injunction.

Joining the Raoul in filing the motion are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.