Beshear signs on to Dem-led lawsuit to challenge Trump’s latest tariff attempt
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear joined a group of almost two dozen Democratic attorneys general Thursday in suing the Trump administration over its latest attempt at imposing sweeping tariffs on imports.
The group is seeking a court order to declare the tariffs unlawful and requesting the federal government begin issuing repayments to states and businesses for the amounts they paid.
“Americans and American businesses have paid 90% of President Trump’s tariffs, at a time when costs are already too high and families need help,” the governor said in a statement to the Herald-Leader. “The Supreme Court ruled his tariffs aren’t legal, and he doesn’t have the authority to impose them.
“Now he’s trying to do a workaround to push his own agenda — we suggest he stop, and we’re fighting back.”
Following the Supreme Court’s Feb. 20 ruling that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority in using a law reserved for national emergencies when he took an aggressive approach to tariffs on products entering the U.S., several of the taxes became invalid.
But the president immediately responded, signing a proclamation imposing a temporary tariff on most imports under the authority of a section of the Trade Act of 1974 he claimed empowers him to “address certain fundamental international payment problems.”
In a fact sheet published by the White House Feb. 20, the Trump administration claimed that by signing the proclamation, “the United States can stem the outflow of its dollars to foreign producers and incentivize the return of domestic production.
“By increasing its domestic production, the United States can correct its balance-of-payments deficit, while also creating good paying jobs, and lowering costs for consumers,” the fact sheet continues.
But the lawsuit — filed by the top law officers in 22 Democratic states, Beshear and Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro — claims just like the first tariff attempt that the president does not have the authority to impose taxes like tariffs.
“The President’s attempt to use Section 122 to impose his desired tariffs is as lawless as his prior use of IEEPA (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act). The President has made clear that he is going to impose worldwide tariffs by any means necessary,” the lawsuit said. “Until last month, it was IEEPA, now it is Section 122, but the policy is the same — an exercise of completely unrestrained executive power in an attempt to usurp the taxing power that the Constitution vests in Congress, not the President.”
The lawsuit also claims “erratic swings in trade policy” impact global markets and locally harm the states’ ability to “procure goods and services and to budget for and audit price adjustments.”
In addition, states are facing increased administrative costs as they sift through executive orders, the president’s social media posts and other communications from his administration to determine the true cost of tariffs, the lawsuit said, which it continuously describes as unlawful.
Beshear has signed on as a plaintiff in a number of lawsuits against the Trump administration since the president took office for a second time, including over a federal funding freeze, data requests for those receiving public benefits, food assistance program funding and others.
The governor, who was previously Kentucky’s attorney general, has joined legal action with other Democrats since the state’s current Attorney General Russell Coleman is a Republican.
Beshear is also making his political positions — interest in kitchen table issues and opposition to the president’s way of policymaking — known as he begins his first year as chair of the Democratic Governors Association and as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.
“These illegal tariffs will be incredibly difficult and challenging for Kentuckians and our industries like bourbon, steel and more,” Beshear said. “Prices on groceries, housing and even gas, which is already spiking due to the war in Iran, will continue to increase. We should be helping American families and businesses, not hurting them.”
No president has attempted to use the same logic as Trump to impose tariffs, according to the lawsuit.
Section 122 was meant to allow limited tariffs in a balance of payments crisis which only happens when a country cannot pay for its own essential imports or make payments on its debt. It’s a distinct problem that happens when a country uses a fixed-rate exchange system or when it ties its currency’s value to another currency or commodity like gold.
The United States has not used a fixed-rate exchange system since the gold standard was abandoned in the 1970s.
“The coalition assert in their lawsuit that the president’s primary rationale for imposing these tariffs — the country’s trade deficit — is not a legitimate reason for imposing tariffs under Section 122,” a news release from New York Attorney General Letitia James who is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit said. “In fact, the administration admitted during the lawsuit against the president’s IEEPA tariffs that trade deficits ‘are conceptually distinct from balance of payment deficits.’”
This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 3:54 PM.
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