Connecticut Joins Multi-State Tariffs Lawsuit

Connecticut joined 23 states this week as plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s latest round of tariffs.

The states—including all New England states except New Hampshire—filed suit March 5 in the U.S. Court of International Trade.

The suit claims the administration’s latest trade levies, set after the U.S. Supreme Court determined that previous tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unconstitutional, also violated the law.

Immediately following the court’s Feb. 20 decision, President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10% tariff on all imports.

The levies were imposed using Section 122 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, which allows the temporary imposition of tariffs—up to 15%—to address a “large and serious balance-of-payments deficit.”

Section 122 tariffs—which no president has ever levied before—expire after 150 days unless Congress passes legislation to extend them.

Court Orders Tariff Refunds

In the latest suit, the states charge that the president “cannot meet the statutory requirements of Section 122, and his effort to impose tariffs under this statute is unlawful.”

“As with his unlawful use of IEEPA, the president has once again exercised tariff authority that he does not have—involving a statute that does not authorize the tariffs he has imposed—to upend the constitutional order and bring chaos to the global economy,” the suit reads.

The suit adds that the “president’s abrupt policy changes have disrupted plaintiff states’ economies” and asks the court to rule the tariffs illegal and refund all levies paid under Section 122.

“Every single cent must be returned to the importer.”

Judge Richard Eaton

The tariffs will generate an estimated $35 billion in revenue if they remain in effect for the statutorily allowed 150 days.

On March 4, a CIT judge ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection to begin refunding tariffs paid under the administration’s IEEPA order—estimated at $166 billion—”immediately and with interest.”

“The law is clear,” Judge Richard Eaton said. “The duties were unlawful from the moment they were imposed. And that means that every single cent must be returned to the importer.”

On March 6, CBP officials told the court the agency was working on a refund system that did not require importers to file individual lawsuits and were targeting it to be operational within 45 days.