California filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court challenging President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to enact broad-sweeping tariffs, arguing the levies on imports hurt states, consumers and businesses.

The lawsuit contends that Trump lacks the authority to unilaterally impose tariffs through the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, creating immediate and irreparable harm to California, the largest economy, manufacturing and agriculture state in the nation, the governor’s office said.

“President Trump’s unlawful tariffs are wreaking chaos on California families, businesses, and our economy — driving up prices and threatening jobs,” Newsom said in a statement Wednesday. “We’re standing up for American families who can’t afford to let the chaos continue.”

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, asks the court “to immediately enjoin the tariffs imposed by President Trump.”

“The President’s chaotic and haphazard implementation of tariffs is not only deeply troubling, it’s illegal,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “As the fifth largest economy in the world, California understands global trade policy is not just a game. Californians are bracing for fallout from the impact of the President’s choices — from farmers in the Central Valley, to small businesses in Sacramento, and worried families at the kitchen table — this game the President is playing has very real consequences for Californians across our state.

Newsom had earlier announced he would seek deals with other countries with which California trades to avoid impacts from the federal tariffs, although experts questioned the extent to which such an effort can succeed.

Economists say the flurry of tariffs announced so far by the Trump administration will drive up the costs of California imports and exports with the Golden State’s top trading partners, including China, which faces a 145% tax on imports to the U.S. and has responded with its own 125% tariff on American goods.

The Trump administration has also targeted automobiles and car parts, a key trade good between Mexico and Canada, and hit the countries with an additional 25% tariff aimed at curbing fentanyl trafficking.

However, Trump administration officials announced last week that electronics such as phones, chips and computers are temporarily exempt from tariffs. California imported nearly $153 billion of computer and electronics products last year — the top good entering the state from abroad.

The lawsuit is just the latest filed by Bonta, a Democrat. Earlier this year, Democrats in the Legislature passed and Newsom signed an additional $25 million for Bonta’s Department of Justice to challenge Trump administration policies in court.

Bonta has since sued the federal government a dozen times, including over Trump’s plans to exempt people born on U.S. soil from receiving birthright citizenship, freeze federal grants and curb billions of dollars in federal research spending.

The case marks the first time Newsom has taken a lead role in any of the now 15 lawsuits that California has filed against the current Trump administration, signaling a potential departure from his more reserved approach to the president during Trump’s second term.

Until now Bonta has acted as the face of California’s legal battles against the federal government while Newsom has generally maintained a distance from the back-and-forth court tussles.

Newsom’s office said the law specifies the actions the president can take if he declares a national emergency in response to a foreign national security, foreign policy or economic threat, “but tariffs aren’t one of them.”

No president before Trump has used the act to place tariffs on imported products from a specific country or on products imported to the United States in general, according to description of the law on a congressional website.

Trump has offered many justifications for increasing tariffs, including that they are designed to spur U.S. manufacturing and stop the flow of illicit fentanyl into the country. California’s move follows rapidly changing tariff plans by the Trump administration.

A White House official slammed the lawsuit and defended the tariffs plan.

“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. “The entire Trump administration remains committed to addressing this national emergency that’s decimating America’s industries and leaving our workers behind with every tool at our disposal, from tariffs to negotiations.”

Newsom discussed the lawsuit at an orchard in the farm-rich Central Valley, highlighting California’s status as a farming powerhouse, with many nuts, fruits and vegetables grown in the state destined for other countries.