President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he was hiking his newly announced global tariff to 15%, less than a day after announcing a 10% worldwide duty.
On Friday, Trump announced the blanket 10% import tax for all foreign trading partners after most of his sweeping tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court.
The justices, divided 6-3, ruled that Trump’s aggressive approach to tariffs on imports from across the world was not permitted under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The Friday ruling invalidated the vast majority of tariffs that were in effect, except for some sector-specific duties such as those on autos, car parts and semiconductor chips.
“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,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday.
Despite the revised level, Trump’s universal tariff will still result in a major cut to tariffs applied to most key trading partners. For some, it would remain the same.
For example, before the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s IEEPA tariffs, most imports from Japan and the European Union’s 27 member states faced a 15% duty.
Tariffs from America’s other top trading partners, including Mexico, Canada and China, will likely see a big reduction in overall rates. Other major trading partners, such as India and Brazil, are also set to see a reduction in duties.
Trump is implementing the new so-called global tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, which is different than the law under which the prior tariffs were ruled illegal.
The 1974 law allows the president to institute a “temporary import surcharge” of up to 15% if he finds there are “large and serious United States balance of-payments deficits” or to “prevent an imminent and significant depreciation of the [U.S.] dollar in foreign exchange markets.”
Under this law, the tariffs can last for up to 150 days, after which Congress may have to take action to extend them. The law is also not clear on whether the administration could restart the tariffs immediately after the 150 days with another executive order.
At the same time as Trump implements this new sweeping tariff, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the administration would open Section 301 investigations on “most major trading partners” on an “accelerated timeframe.”
The investigations would allow the administration to impose tariffs under another section of the 1974 law if it finds that “the rights of the U.S. are being denied under any trade agreement, or whether any trade agreement is “unjustifiable and burdens or restricts United States commerce.”
