The Wisconsin Department of Justice says it has joined a coalition of 21 other states in urging the United States Trade Representative to drop a tariff proposal involving the European Union and 59 other countries.
According to DOJ, the states submitted a comment letter pushing back on the USTR’s latest proposal after earlier tariff actions were rejected by courts. DOJ says the proposal follows a Supreme Court ruling against one tariff effort in February and a Court of International Trade ruling against another effort in May.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul criticized the proposal, saying, “The Trump administration’s illegal tariffs have been harmful to the economy and made life less affordable for Wisconsin families. President Trump needs to let go of his fixation with tariffs.”
DOJ says President Trump had previously argued that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act allowed him to impose tariffs of any amount, on any product, from any country, for any length of time. According to the release, the Supreme Court rejected that argument in February.
The department says the administration then turned to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and announced 10-percent tariffs on most products worldwide. DOJ says Wisconsin and 23 other states successfully challenged those tariffs.
According to DOJ, Trump then directed the USTR to investigate the European Union and 59 other countries to determine whether they are doing enough to combat forced labor in global trade. DOJ says those countries account for 99.4-percent of all U.S. imports.
The department says the USTR report later recommended 10-percent tariffs on 14 economies and 12-and-a-half-percent tariffs on the other 46, with the same exceptions as before. DOJ says the report did not explain how the proposed tariffs would combat forced labor.
The release also cites an analysis by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which DOJ says concluded that nearly 90-percent of the costs of tariffs in 2025 were paid by American consumers and businesses.
The states argue the latest round of tariffs is illegal, outside the scope of the authority Congress gave the USTR, and unsupported by evidence.
Joining Wisconsin in the letter are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Oregon, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
