8 News Now: Nevada attorney general joins other states in motion to stop Trump Administration’s tariffs

Aaron Ford, Attorney General of Nevada, answers a question during an interview at the State Attorneys General Association meetings , Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford announced Friday he was joining a group of attorneys general in filing a motion to block the Trump Administration’s tariffs.

According to a release from the AG’s office, the motion filed asks to block the “implementation of President Donald Trump’s latest efforts to impose illegal tariffs on products purchased by American consumers and businesses.”

“These tariffs are not abstract policy decisions. They are price increases that Nevada families and businesses will feel every day,” Attorney General Ford said. “The law is clear, and the president cannot stretch statutes beyond their limits to justify sweeping tariffs. We are asking the court to halt this unlawful action and protect Nevadans from unnecessary economic harm.”

President Trump and his administration have attempted to impose tariffs on goods purchased by American consumers and businesses, initially by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

In February, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that many of those tariffs were unlawful, specifically when it came to the use of an emergency statute, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, to remake global trade.

The 1970s-era law allows the president to “regulate” imports when necessary to respond to national emergencies that pose an “unusual and extraordinary” threat.

The administration is now attempting to use a different law, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, to implement tariffs, according to the AG’s release. Using that law, the administration has imposed 10 percent tariffs on most products worldwide.

The motion claims those tariffs are illegal, too, with the AG’s release saying that Section 122 allows tariffs “only where there are ‘large and serious balance-of-payment deficits,’ but nosuch thing exists. A trade deficit is not a balance-of-payment deficit.”

The motion asks the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) to order federal agencies to stop collecting the latest round of illegal tariffs.

“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 tariffs,” the release said. “Additionally, a recent analysis by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concluded that nearly 90 percent of the costs of tariffs last year were paid by American consumers and businesses.”

The case State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump, et al 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. It is pending before a three-judge panel of the CIT, scheduled for argument on April 10.

In addition to Nevada, also joining the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, NewJersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.