Wisconsin to join new lawsuit after recent reports show Trump’s tariff taxes cost Americans nearly $200 billion last year
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today released a statement regarding a new lawsuit fighting President Donald J. Trump’s tariff taxes on Wisconsin’s and America’s working families. Gov. Evers today announced Wisconsin is joining a new multi-state lawsuit against President Trump’s most recent action to impose burdensome, ten percent tariffs on certain imported goods after the U.S. Supreme Court found some of the president’s previously issued tariff taxes unconstitutional, opining that the tariffs exceeded powers granted to the president by the U.S. Congress. The multi-state litigation argues the “president has no authority to impose tariffs as he has done here.” Therefore, the lawsuit argues that “because these tariffs are unlawful, [the] Court should declare that they are not in force, enjoin the Defendant agencies and officers from enforcing them, and vacate the agency actions implementing them.”
“President Trump’s erratic trade wars and reckless—and illegal—tariff taxes are hurting Wisconsin working families, farmers, manufacturers, and small business owners, and jacking up prices at the grocery store for Wisconsin families and seniors. Hard-working families here in Wisconsin and across our country are paying the price for Trump’s tariff taxes, costing Americans nearly $200 billion last year alone,” said Gov. Evers. “Time and again, the Trump Administration continues to blatantly ignore our constitutional checks and balances, and Republicans in Congress not only aren’t doing anything to stop him—they’re helping him. Congress cannot continue to let this continued overreach of power go unchecked. Americans are concerned about rising costs and putting food on the table to feed their families, and on-again-off-again tariff taxes are only making things harder. Wisconsin families shouldn’t be saddled with the cost of the president’s illegal tariff taxes, and that’s why we’re headed to court to stop him.”
This lawsuit comes as We Pay the Tariffs, an organization of small business owners from across the country, found that Wisconsin businesses paid $3.5 billion in tariff taxes from March 2025 to December 2025. Further, a December 2025 survey found that half of Americans said paying for food is difficult, and 55 percent blame the Trump Administration. All told, research from the Kiel Institute indicates that American consumers paid for 96 percent of the $200 billion in tariff revenue generated in 2025, despite the president continuing to suggest otherwise. Further, recent polling done by the Pew Research Center shows that President Trump’s tariff policies are wildly unpopular, with 60 percent of Americans disapproving of the Trump Administration substantially increasing tariffs.
An online version of this release is available here.