Newsom Ramps Up Economic Attacks On White House With Tariff Lawsuit

Gov. Gavin Newsom cast President Donald Trump’s tariffs as “one of the most self-destructive things that we've experienced in modern American history” on Wednesday as he touted California’s lawsuit against several of the levies in the state’s agriculture-heavy Central Valley.

The Democratic governor, sporting blue denim in lieu of slacks at an almond farm south of Sacramento, bemoaned the economic impacts on California’s marquee tech and farming industries and argued the White House has no authority to unilaterally tax imports under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act which it has cited.

“We're a world away from the values that are emanating out of the White House,” Newsom said. “That's why we are asserting ourselves. I can't imagine anything more unifying for a state at this moment than stepping up … on this critical issue.”

Newsom has been relatively muted in his criticism of Trump on issues such as immigration and gender, particularly since he started pleading his case for unconditioned federal aid to help Los Angeles recover from the wildfires there. He has reserved some of his most pointed broadsides for Trump’s tariffs, dubbing them a “betrayal” even before his inauguration. He has also asked international leaders to spare California from retaliation.

“No state is poised to lose more than the state of California,” Newsom said. “That's why we're asserting ourselves on behalf of 40 million Americans. And I imagine if you caucused those 40 million Americans, you'd find few — I don't care where they were in the last election — that are celebrating this uncertainty.”

California is the first state to sue Trump over tariffs during his second term. Leading the challenge is the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, who has become a central leader of California's resistance to the White House during Trump’s second term as Newsom has at times buddied up to Trump.

Bolstering Bonta’s power is an extra $25 million that the state Legislature and Newsom set aside this year for California to sue the Trump administration. The state is already involved in more than a dozen such legal challenges. Many of them have been alongside other Democratic attorneys general, but Bonta and Newsom decided to forward the tariff challenge alone.

”This one is different, just given California's position,” Bonta told POLITICO in an interview Wednesday. “We're a nation-state. We're the fifth-largest economy in the world.”

Democratic leaders in the state Legislature have frequently backed the statewide officials up, echoing their criticism of the tariffs. It has also offered them an opportunity to meld criticism of Trump with messaging on affordability — an economic focus that Democratic strategists see as crucial to avoiding further electoral losses in California after a disappointing November.

“This is why we enacted a legal defense fund: to fight Republican policies that harm taxpayers,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said of the tariff lawsuit in a statement. “We’re protecting our residents — and all American families — from unlawful economic chaos.”

The White House responded to the lawsuit by accusing Newsom of becoming distracted from crises at home and inappropriately directing his energy toward counteracting the administration's agenda.

“Instead of focusing on California’s rampant crime, homelessness, and unaffordability, Gavin Newsom is spending his time trying to block President Trump’s historic efforts to finally address the national emergency of our country’s persistent goods trade deficits,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.

Myah Ward and Tyler Katzenberger contributed to this report.