California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a lawsuit on April 16 targeting President Donald Trump’s tariffs, making California the first state to challenge the constitutionality of the president’s trade policies.
Newsom made the announcement at a joint news conference with state Attorney General Rob Bonta in Stanislaus County in the Central Valley.
“No state is poised to lose more than the State of California,” Newsom said during the event, held on an almond farm.
“We’re a world away from the values that are emanating out of the White House.”
Newsom said the manufacturing sector in California will be disproportionately affected by the levies, as will agricultural producers that rely on export markets, such as pistachio and almond farmers.
“Few industries will be hammered more [by] the toxic uncertainty of these Trump tariffs,” he said during the news conference.
The governor highlighted a $5.5 billion charge that tech giant Nvidia announced on April 15. He said it has the potential to negatively affect the state’s economic outlook.
The charge by the tech giant, which caused stocks to sink on April 16, is meant to offset a new rule affecting the export of its H20 artificial intelligence chips to China.
“The uncertainty is pronounced, and it is profound in the State of California,” Newsom said.
Officials also suggested that the decline in stock price valuations is evidence that financial market volatility is correlated with trade policies, particularly because of the on-again, off-again shifts seen in recent weeks.
“We’re here because President Trump’s rogue and erratic tariffs are wreaking havoc on our nation’s financial system and causing uniquely immense harm to California’s economy, the fifth-largest economy in the world,” Bonta said during the news conference.
“The gravity and instability of the situation at hand cannot be overstated.”
He called the 145 percent tariffs on China “astronomical.” He suggested that the U.S. economy will shrink as a result and that the cost of goods will increase for consumers.
“Americans are the ones shouldering the burden,” Bonta said. He called the tariffs “a slap in the face to Americans” and said that “it’s time to put this chaos to an end.”
A White House official responded to the litigation, suggesting that California’s elected leaders should prioritize local efforts to improve the state instead of spending time and resources challenging the federal government.
“Instead of focusing on California’s rampant crime, homelessness, and unaffordability, Gavin Newsom is spending his time trying to block President Trump’s historic efforts to finally address the national emergency of our country’s persistent goods trade deficits,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Epoch Times in a statement on April 16.
“The entire Trump administration remains committed to addressing this national emergency that’s decimating America’s industries and leaving our workers behind with every tool at our disposal, from tariffs to negotiations.”
One Republican state lawmaker said the lawsuit is a “frivolous” waste of resources.
“It’s just another political stunt,” California state Sen. Tony Strickland told The Epoch Times.
He applauded the president’s trade-related negotiation strategies.
“If we’re going to build our middle class in America, I think what President Trump is doing is the right path,” Strickland said.
The state senator said the governor should focus on issues impacting Californians, such as the high cost of energy and burdensome regulations he believes are stifling the timber industry, among others.
Newsom issued a directive in April seeking strengthened ties with international trading partners and exemptions from foreign tariffs for California’s products as part of a strategy he described as “sub-national trade.”
The newly announced lawsuit is the 14th legal action California has brought against the Trump administration since Trump assumed office for a second time.
According to Bonta’s office, California sued the first Trump administration on 123 occasions between 2017 and 2021.
