President Trump said on Saturday that he is going to raise his global tariff to 15%, up from 10% he imposed on Friday, after the Supreme Court struck down a set of sweeping global tariffs.
Mr. Trump said in a social media post that he was making the decision “Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday,” by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been ‘ripping’ the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level,” he wrote in a Truth Social post.
Infuriated by the high court’s ruling, Mr. Trump signed a proclamation on Friday that enabled him to bypass Congress and impose a 10% tax on most imports to the United States. The law allows the president to impose a levy of up to 15% for 150 days, although it could face legal challenges.
Mr. Trump went on to say that his administration would “determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinary successful process of Making America Great Again.”
Most of the president’s previous levies hinged on a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, which the Supreme Court ruled Friday cannot be used to impose tariffs.
Friday’s tariffs were issued under a different law: Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That legal provision lets the president impose duties of up to 15% for 150 days to deal with “large and serious” balance-of-payment issues. They are scheduled to take effect starting Feb. 24.
It was not immediately clear when the president would sign an updated order.
In addition to the temporary tariffs that Mr. Trump wants to set at 15%, the president said Friday that he was also pursuing tariffs through other sections of federal law, which require an investigation by the Commerce Department.
The Yale Budget Lab, a nonpartisan economic policy research center, estimates that the Supreme Court’s ruling, coupled with Mr. Trump’s new 15% tariff, will cost the average American household $1,315 per year. This calculation assumes that the 15% tariff is extended beyond the 150 days.
The Supreme Court’s ruling did not impact tariffs that were issued under legal authorities aside from IEEPA, including Mr. Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum and auto imports.
After Friday’s decision, Mr. Trump made an unusually personal attack on the Supreme Court judges who ruled against him, including two of those he appointed during his first term, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. Mr. Trump, at a news conference after the ruling, said of the two justices: “I think it’s an embarrassment to their families.”
He was still seething Friday night, posting on social media complaints about Gorsuch, Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Trump issued another post declaring that his “new hero” was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote a 63-page dissent. He also praised Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and said of the three dissenting justices: “There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
