In a post on X, Newsom addressed the U.S.'s global trading partners, writing “California is here and ready to talk.”
It comes after a Fox News report revealed that Newsom is directing his state to pursue “strategic” relationships with countries announcing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., urging them to exclude California-made products from those taxes.
Off the top of my head,
Yes, this is an explicit step away from the authority of the federal government
It is FAR from California’s first step (recognizing gay marriage; sanctuary state; legal weed; etc)
It is not a complete defiance of federal law per se. I suspect that the way California is going to try to negotiate will be by offering breaks on its own state and local taxes. California has a decent slew of state level taxes on many things. The state may be willing to reduce its own state taxes to offset the federal taxes as part of a separate deal with foreign nations.
Well they may not have to defy federal law. Could be a good faith deal. Where if California imports something the tariffs are still paid by the ordering companies, but California gives some kind of kick back or assurance that they will remain a better trading partner for a lesser retaliatory tariff. If say China says no tariffs on California, it would make many companies flock to doing all business that ships to China go through California. Making their industry possibly not hurt as bad, or even thrive.
If states start to see they are hurting much more than California, more states may flock to the ideals that are proping up said trade.
It’s all very big IF’s