Bessent Says Global Tariff Rate Likely to Rise to 15% This Week
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the Trump administration plans to raise its across-the-board tariff rate to 15% this week, providing a timeline for an increase announced by President Trump but not yet implemented.
“It’s probably this week,” Bessent said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Trump imposed a 10 percent across-the-board tariff last month after the Supreme Court struck down his broader tariff regime, then pledged within days to raise that rate to 15 percent. However, this promised increase has not yet been implemented.
Questions also remain about which countries would be subject to the higher rate. Trade representative Jamieson Greer suggested last week that this would not apply universally.
The European Union, which concluded a framework trade agreement with Washington last year, expects to be spared, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Tax Policy Center estimates that under a 10 percent tariff
The tariffs are imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which caps their duration at 150 days absent congressional action. Bessent said the administration will use this period to build a more legally sustainable rate structure through Section 301 and 232 investigations.
“I firmly believe that customs duty rates will return to their old rates within five months,” he said. “They move more slowly, but they are more robust.”
The Supreme Court’s February ruling struck down so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act. Many other tariffs imposed by the Trump administration were imposed by different legal authorities and remain in effect, including duties on metals, cars, trucks and lumber. The Tax Policy Center estimates that the average duty rate on imports now stands at about 12.1 percent and would fall to about 9.1 percent after the 150-day expiration of the Section 122 tariffs.
The Tax Policy Center estimates that before the Supreme Court’s decision, the average tax rate was about 17 percent. Before the tariffs of Trump’s second term, the average tariff rate was about 2.6%.
However, some countries face much higher rates. Goods from China, for example, are subject to an average duty rate of 27.2 percent. Vietnam’s average tax rate is 15.3 percent and Germany’s is 11.4 percent, according to the Tax Policy Center.
