Trump
… new duty, taking effect on Tuesday, only lasts for 150 days.
Fresh US tariffs on imported goods came into effect on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump moved to rebuild his trade agenda after the Supreme Court ruled against a swath of his global duties.
The new tariffs, initially set at 10 per cent, are justified as a means “to deal with the large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits,” according to a White House statement released Friday.
Trump has since vowed to raise this level to 15 per cent, with exclusions expected to remain for goods covered by sector-specific investigations and the US-Mexico-Canada trade pact.
The US president has doubled down on imposing tariffs on trading partners since the high court on Friday struck down many of his sweeping and often arbitrary duties, in a rebuke of his signature economic policy.
His sector-specific tariffs on goods like steel and autos remain intact, but the ruling sets the stage for a complex fight for refunds elsewhere.
The new duty, taking effect on Tuesday, only lasts for 150 days unless extended by Congress and is widely seen as a bridge towards a more durable trade policy.
US Customs and Border Protection has said it would stop collecting tariffs struck down by the court starting Tuesday, too.
It separately said it would start collecting the new 10-per cent tariffs on Tuesday.
The conservative-majority court ruled six to three that Trump had exceeded his authority in using a 1977 law to impose sudden tariffs on individual countries.
Trump’s new tariff will apply to $1.2 trillion worth of imports on an annual basis or about 34 per cent of total goods imported, said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation.
“The Trump tariffs amounted to an average tax increase per US household of $1,000 in 2025,” she added.
With Trump’s global tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ruled illegal, his new and existing duties are still set to “result in a household burden of $700 in 2026,” she said.
Trump insisted Monday that the Supreme Court gave him “far more powers and strength” with its ruling, adding that he could “use licenses to do absolutely ‘terrible’ things to foreign countries.”
“With his tariff wings clipped, Trump needs a new tool to express displeasure on actions by others,” said Wendy Cutler, a former US trade official.
“Threatening steep licensing fees is an alternative, but it lacks the flair and quantitative nature of tariffs,” added Cutler, senior vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Trump also threatened Monday to hike tariffs on countries that choose to “play games” following the court decision, in a warning to nations that recently struck trade deals with Washington under the threat of duties.
Over the past year, Trump has imposed various tariff rates on partners — sometimes changing them on short notice — to cajole and punish both friend and foe. He has used this as leverage in trade talks.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Sunday on CBS that tariff agreements remain in force despite the ruling: “We expect our partners to stand by them.”
But the threatened 15-per cent duty, for some countries like Britain and Australia, exceeds a 10-per cent rate they faced under the previous program.
Cutler warned that Trump’s actions could intensify US partners’ disappointment.
While it is doubtful that they would retaliate, they could step up efforts to diversify away from the United States, she said.
AFP
