AG Kris Mayes files 3rd lawsuit to block Trump tariffs, warns businesses face ‘existential’ threat

Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Monday that Arizona is co-leading a 25-state lawsuit to block President Donald Trump’s latest round of global tariffs, calling them an illegal tax that is crushing small businesses and driving up grocery prices across the state.

“Every Arizonan has paid more at the grocery store because Donald Trump refuses to follow the law,” Mayes said at a news conference in Phoenix.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, is the third time Mayes and her counterparts have challenged the administration’s tariff agenda.

Courts have struck down the president’s first two attempts, ruling he lacked legal authority under the statutes he used.

“We have defeated this tariff scheme twice already, and we will do it a third time,” Mayes said.

The administration’s latest tariffs use Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, claiming they are needed to combat forced labor in global trade. The new rates of 10% and 12.5% hit nearly all goods from virtually every country that trades with the United States.

Forced labor is just a cover story, lawsuit says

According to the complaint, the president and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced a plan to “ensure continuity” by using Section 301 to achieve the same tariff outcomes that courts had already declared illegal, timing the new tariffs to replace the old ones without interruption.

Mayes pointed to what she called glaring contradictions in the administration’s reasoning.

She noted that products with documented ties to forced labor, including coffee, cobalt and frozen beef from Brazil, are actually exempt from the tariffs. Meanwhile, countless goods with no connection to forced labor are included.

The complaint confirms that one of just three examples the administration cited of goods made with forced labor was frozen beef from Brazil. But the tariffs exempt many beef products, including frozen beef from Brazil.

“It lays bare just how flimsy the trade representative’s proof is,” Mayes said.

The administration completed its investigation of 60 economies in just two and a half months. By comparison, a single investigation into China’s trade practices in 2017 took more than eight months.

Mayes: Tariffs create an existential threat for Arizona small businesses

Mayes said the human cost is already real.

She described conversations with Arizona restaurant owners struggling to absorb the price increases.

One Mexican food restaurant owner told her she is rationing salsa and tomatoes. Another said the rising cost of vegetables and packaging is eating into her profits.

“Many of them are on the verge of bankruptcy,” Mayes said. “This is existential for small businesses in Arizona.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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