The New York Times
Trump Says He Will Raise Global Tariff to 15 Percent
The move signaled that the president would press ahead with steep global tariffs despite the legal setback from the Supreme Court.
Tony Romm and Ana Swanson
Reporting from Washington
President Trump announced on Saturday that he would raise his new, global tariff to 15 percent, a day after he took steps to replicate some of the punishing duties that had been struck down by the Supreme Court.
Mr. Trump announced the change in a post on social media, and said the policy would take effect immediately, as he signaled that he would press ahead with his trade war despite a major legal setback.
For some countries, Mr. Trump’s new 15 percent tariff may actually be higher than the rates that previously applied to their exports to the United States. Those tariffs were invalidated on Friday, after a majority of the court’s justices found that the president did not have the authority to issue them using a set of emergency powers.
Mr. Trump previously set his replacement global rate at 10 percent, using a provision in a law — never before invoked by a president — that allows him to impose an across-the-board tariff for 150 days unless Congress agrees to extend it. The statute caps the rate at 15 percent, though Mr. Trump has signaled he plans to use other trade provisions to continue raising taxes on imports.
“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,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again — GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!” he continued.
The ruling extends a period of uncertainty for companies and countries that have tried to cope with the president’s aggressive and fluctuating tariff threats. The Trump administration used the threat of tariffs to force other countries to reach trade agreements with the United States. Mr. Trump has warned other nations that they should stick to trade deals they negotiated over the past year, or risk being hit with new tariffs.
But the sudden removal of his emergency tariffs, which had encouraged other governments to make trade concessions to the United States, is still likely to raise doubts among foreign leaders about whether to keep the deals they agreed to.
Some governments have faced domestic criticism for concessions made to the United States — like in India, where farmers have condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move to open agricultural markets. Indonesia had just signed its trade deal with the United States on Thursday, adopting zero tariffs on American goods in return for a 19 percent tariff rate on its exports.
The Trump administration has indicated that it will use other legal authorities, like Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, to impose tariffs on countries individually based on their trade practices. But those investigations will take time to prepare.
At least temporarily, exports from all countries will now face a 15 percent tariff rate, regardless of their trade practices, or the concessions they have made. Some trade experts said that those rates could end up benefiting lower-cost producers in places like China and other Asian nations, whose goods would be relatively cheap even after a 15 percent tariff rate.
The new global tariff does not apply universally. Mr. Trump moved late Friday to carve out certain products, including beef and other agricultural products, which he had previously spared from the steepest import taxes to keep prices from rising.
Nor will the new rate affect goods like foreign autos and steel, which are already subject to tariffs imposed on national security grounds. Mr. Trump preserved a policy that upholds the terms of a trade deal he previously brokered with Canada and Mexico, allowing imports covered by the pact to remain tariff free. He also added some new exemptions to the tariffs — for example, for Central American countries included in a trade deal signed in 2004.
Tony Romm is a reporter covering economic policy and the Trump administration for The Times, based in Washington.
Ana Swanson covers trade and international economics for The Times and is based in Washington. She has been a journalist for more than a decade.
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