12 states sue Donald Trump administration in trade court to stop tariff policy

Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont, are among the states listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

As many as 12 American states on Wednesday sued the Trump administration in New York's US court of international trade to stop President Donald Trump's tariff policy, arguing that it is unlawful and has brought chaos to the country's economy.

The lawsuit asked the court to declare the Trump tariffs to be illegal and block government agencies from enforcing them.(AP)

The lawsuit said that the policy imposed by Trump has left the national trade policy subject to the US President's "whims rather than the sound exercise of lawful authority", a report from The Associated Press said.

The states that have brought the lawsuit are Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.

Trump tariff schemes ‘insane’

The suit also sought to challenge Trump's claim that he could arbitrarily impose tariffs on the basis of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. It also asked the court to declare the tariffs to be illegal and block government agencies from enforcing them.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, in a release, described Trump's tariff scheme as "insane". She also said that "it was not only economically reckless, it is illegal".

The lawsuit also asserted that only Congress holds the power to impose tariffs, adding that the president can only invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act when an urgent situation presents as an "unusual and extraordinary" threat from abroad.

“By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the lawsuit read.

Last week, Democrat California governor Gavin Newsom, sued the Trump administration in the US district court in California's northern district over the tariff policy. He said that his state stands to lose billions of dollars in revenue being the largest importer in the country.

Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded to the California governor's lawsuit and said the 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".

Ever since Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on several countries across the world, the global markets and economies have taken a notable hit. In the backdrop of this, tensions of a full-blown US-China war are also escalating.