California’s governor and attorney general sued President Trump on Wednesday to try to stop his flurry of tariffs, accusing the president of taking unlawful action to escalate a global trade war that has caused “immediate and irreparable harm” to the state’s economy.
The lawsuit is the largest legal challenge yet to Mr. Trump’s trade policies. It was filed Wednesday in federal court in California by Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta, both Democrats.
Mr. Newsom said that California had a responsibility to fight the tariffs as the largest importer and second-largest exporter among the states, behind only oil-rich Texas. California’s economy would rank as the world’s fifth largest if the state were a nation and it represents 14 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.
“Where the hell is Congress? Where the hell is Speaker Johnson? Do your job,” Mr. Newsom said Wednesday during a news conference at an almond farm in the Central Valley, the state’s agricultural center. He accused them of “sitting there passively” as Mr. Trump “wrecks the economy of the United States of America.”
Mr. Trump’s tariffs are upending global trade. He imposed a 10 percent tariff on nearly all imports from most of the world, and his escalating tariffs with China have reached 145 percent.
