President Donald Trump said he will increase the global 10% tariff he announced one day ago to 15%, in reaction to the US Supreme Court’s ruling that his mechanism for applying tariffs was illegal.
“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 said in a social-media post on Saturday.
Hours after the Supreme Court ruling on Friday, Trump imposed a 10% global tariff on foreign goods, moving to preserve his trade agenda.
Trump is applying the new baseline tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, which allows the president to impose tariffs for 150 days without congressional approval. Securing that approval could prove challenging, as Democrats and some Republicans have opposed elements of his trade policy.
The initial 10% tariffs Trump announced on Friday were scheduled to go into effect on Feb. 24 at 12:01 a.m. Washington time, according to a White House fact sheet. He is scheduled to deliver the State of the Union address to Congress that evening in Washington. Trump’s post on Saturday didn’t go into details on timing on the increased tariffs.
The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 Friday that Trump had acted unlawfully in using a longstanding federal emergency powers statute to justify his “reciprocal” tariffs. Last April, he relied on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy duties ranging from 10% to 50% on dozens of US trading partners.
The White House and US Trade Representative’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
