CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR DEMANDS REFUNDS AFTER US SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN TRUMP TARIFFS AS ILLEGAL

SACRAMENTO (United States), Feb 21 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday demanded that US President Donald Trump refund with interest all those affected by his tariffs, after the US Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs are illegal, reported Xinhua.

In a 6-3 ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court said that the tariff policies under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) are unconstitutional, officially striking down the tariffs Trump has introduced since April.

In April, Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a suit arguing that IEEPA did not authorise the levies. Bonta said at the time that the tariffs were on track to cost California US$25 billion and eliminate 64,000 jobs.

Newsom said that the ruling confirmed what he had argued from the start. In a statement, he addressed Trump directly: "Time to pay the piper, Donald. These tariffs were nothing more than an illegal cash grab that drove up prices and hurt working families, so you could wreck longstanding alliances and extort them. Every dollar unlawfully taken must be refunded immediately — with interest. Cough up!"

In a post on X, Newsom's press office said, “Called it! Trump's tariffs were illegal from day one — an unconstitutional tax, and now it’s dead. When is Trump going to refund every-day Americans the US$1,700 he illegally taxed them?”

A Yale University report cited by his office found that the tariffs cost the average US family US$1,751 last year.  

-- BERNAMA-XINHUA