Gov. Bob Ferguson, with backing from an ensemble of state officials, lawmakers, trade unions and economic development organizations, has joined a multistate lawsuit seeking to block the tariffs instituted by President Donald Trump. 

Ferguson’s amicus brief was filed with the U.S. Court for International Trade on May 20, according to a release. Calling the tariffs illegal and inflicting serious harm on Washingtonians, Ferguson said the brief paints a broad picture of the impacts of the White House’s trade policies. 

“When a state AG brings a lawsuit, and I have a little bit of experience on this, when a state AG bring a lawsuit, as an attorney general, you are limited to articulating harm specifically to state government,” Ferguson said during a press conference at the Port of Seattle on May 21. “When I filed that brief with all the partners, I can articulate a broader set of harms. 

In other words, it’s not limited just to the harm to state government specifically, but rather workers, consumers, private businesses.” 

The multistate lawsuit, filed April 23 in the U.S. Court of International Trade, challenges four of President Donald Trump’s executive orders that claim the power to increase tariffs worldwide without Congressional approval. 

Among the coalition of 24 public and private persons and organizations that signed on to the governor’s brief is the Washington Economic Development Association, which includes among its 200 members many of the municipal governments, ports and other economic-related entities in and around the Tri-Cities.  

“We are now facing very real and very deep economic impacts, serious challenges for supply chains, job layoffs and potential revenue losses in the billions of dollars – and the overall drastic threats to Washington State’s economic competitiveness caused by federal tariffs,” said Suzanne Dale Estey, the association’s executive director, during the press conference. “Our organization and our position on this issue is not partisan – it is about jobs – jobs which support families, and jobs which support communities.”