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Joins Multistate Lawsuit to Block Unlawful Tariffs that are Increasing Prices on American Consumers and Businesses
BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown today joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general and governors in filing a lawsuit to block President Trump’s latest efforts to impose unlawful tariffs on American consumers and businesses. The case challenges President Trump’s most recent efforts to impose tariffs worldwide without congressional authorization.
“The courts rejected President Trump’s earlier attempt to impose tariffs, and yet the President keeps finding new, unlawful ways to raise prices on groceries and household items Marylanders depend on every day,” said Attorney General Brown. “Our Office will not stand by while Marylanders’ budgets are stretched thin because this Administration believes it is above the law.”
For more than a year, President Trump has inflicted chaos on the American economy by imposing tariffs without the legal authority to do so. Initially, the President claimed that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) allowed him to impose tariffs of any amount, on any product, from any country, for any length of time by simply declaring an emergency. Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court rejected that argument, concluding that the IEEPA tariffs were unlawful.
Rather than accepting that loss, President Trump immediately turned to a separate law that has never been used before – Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 – and announced 15 percent tariffs on most products worldwide, seemingly to address trade deficits. But Section 122 does not apply – that law authorizes tariffs in limited circumstances, including when there are “large and serious balance-of-payments deficits.” Notably, a trade deficit is not a balance-of-payment deficit, meaning that once again the President is acting unlawfully.
A recent analysis by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concluded that nearly 90 percent of the costs of tariffs in 2025 were paid by American consumers and businesses. By imposing another round of price increases on American consumers and businesses, President Trump is doubling down on failed economic policies.
Maryland consumers, businesses, and state government are all directly in the crosshairs of these tariffs. Maryland itself purchases imported goods across state agencies and programs, making the state a consumer subject to these costs just like any Maryland family or business.
Today’s lawsuit, State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump, et al., which was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, challenges this latest round of tariffs. The complaint contends that these actions by President Trump and his administration violate the law, upend constitutional separation of powers, and violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, 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.
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