Erika D. Smith, Columnist

California's Tariff Lawsuit Has Two Goals

Yes, Governor Gavin Newsom hopes to win in court. But this lawsuit is also a way of letting voters know who’s to blame for unpopular import taxes.

April 18, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC

By Erika D. Smith

Erika D. Smith is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She is a former Los Angeles Times columnist and Sacramento Bee editorial board member.

Making a point.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Until this week, the fight in the courts over President Donald Trump’s tariffs had largely been limited to a collection of small business owners, many moved to sue out of desperation. No more. On Wednesday, California decided to pursue its own legal challenge to protect its billions of dollars in imports and exports and millions of jobs in agriculture, tech and manufacturing.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta argue that the White House has no authority to unilaterally upend global markets the way Trump has, echoing the concerns of those small business owners. The lawsuit seeks to have Trump’s tariffs declared unlawful to prevent more economic damage.