Trump raises global tariff to 15% shortly after implementing reworked 10% levy
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he was increasing recently announced global tariffs to 15%, less than a day after announcing a 10% global tariff.
On Friday, Trump announced a blanket 10% import tax for all foreign trading partners after most of his tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court.
The justices, divided 6-3, ruled that Trump’s aggressive approach to tariffs on imports from around the world was not allowed under a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Friday’s ruling invalidated the vast majority of existing tariffs, except for some sector-specific duties such as those on automobiles, auto parts and semiconductor chips.
“As President of the United States of America, I will, effective immediately, increase global tariffs from 10% on countries, many of which have been ‘ripping off’ the United States for decades, without retaliation (until I arrive!), to the fully authorized and legally tested 15% level,” Trump wrote in a social media post Saturday.
Despite the revised level, Trump’s universal tariffs will still result in a significant reduction in tariffs on most major 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 27 member states of the European Union were subject to 15% tariffs.
Tariffs for other major U.S. trading partners, including Mexico, Canada and China, will likely see a sharp reduction in overall rates. Other major trading partners, such as India and Brazil, are also expected to benefit from reduced tariffs.
Trump is implementing the new so-called global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which is different from the law under which previous tariffs were deemed illegal.
The 1974 Act authorizes the President to impose a “temporary import surcharge” of up to 15 percent if he determines the existence of “large and serious deficits in the balance of payments of the United States” or to “prevent an imminent and significant depreciation of the balance of payments of the United States.” [U.S.] dollar on the foreign exchange markets.
Under this law, the tariffs can last up to 150 days, after which Congress may need to take action to extend them. The law also does not specify whether the administration could reinstate the rates immediately after the 150 days with another executive order.
Even as Trump implemented the sweeping new tariff, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration would open Section 301 investigations into “most major trading partners” in an “expedited time frame.”
The investigations would allow the administration to impose tariffs under another section of the 1974 law if it finds that “the rights of the United States are being violated under a trade agreement, or if a trade agreement is ‘unjustifiable and burdens or restricts the commerce of the United States.’
