Office of the
Illinois Attorney General
Kwame Raoul

Chicago — Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 22 states, urged the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to rescind its plan to continue President Trump’s illegal tariffs. In their comment letter, the attorneys general push back on the USTR’s proposed tariffs on the European Union and 59 other countries after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the USTR’s first attempt to impose tariffs in February, and the Court of International Trade struck down its second attempt in May.

“The Trump tariffs are illegal – period. Hardworking Americans should not have to foot the bill for the Trump administration’s illegal tariffs,” Raoul said. “Despite the U.S. Supreme Court and several lower courts ruling that the president exceeded his authority under the law when he tried to unilaterally impose tariffs, he continues to pursue his failed economic policies. I’m calling on the United States Trade Representative to stop assisting the president with his unlawful attempts to impose price increases on American businesses and families.”

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. In April 2025, Raoul and 11 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit to halt the implementation of the illegal tariffs. Lower courts ruled in favor of the states, explaining that President Trump’s attempt to implement sweeping tariffs exceeded the authority delegated to him by Congress. In February, the Supreme Court also concluded that the IEEPA tariffs were unlawful.

After his loss at the Supreme Court, President Trump immediately turned to a different law that had never been used before — Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — and announced 10% tariffs on most products worldwide. Raoul and a coalition of states successfully challenged those tariffs as well.

Trump has since directed the USTR to investigate the European Union and 59 other countries, which together account for 99.4% of all U.S. imports, to determine whether those countries are doing enough to combat forced labor in global trade. The USTR’s report proposed 10% tariffs on 14 economies, 12.5% tariffs on the other 46, with the exact same exceptions as prior tariffs and no explanation of how the new tariffs will combat forced labor. 

A recent analysis by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York concluded that nearly 90% of the costs of tariffs in 2025 were paid by American consumers and businesses. By attempting to impose yet another round of price increases on American consumers and businesses, President Trump is tripling down on failed economic policies.

Today’s letter argues that this latest round of tariffs is illegal, outside the scope of the authority Congress gave the USTR and unsupported by evidence.

Raoul is joined in submitting the comment letter by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.