Trump hikes US global tariff rate from 10 pc to 15 pc, terms Supreme Court verdict 'anti-American'

Washington: President Donald Trump said on Saturday he is raising the worldwide tariffs on goods entering the United States from 10 per cent to 15 per cent "effective immediately," a day after the Supreme Court largely struck down his sweeping duties.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that after a thorough review of Friday's "extraordinarily anti-American decision" by the court to rein in his tariff program, the administration was hiking the import levies "to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level."

He took the surprising move hours after signing the order hiking the tariff rate to 10 per cent.

“Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court, please let this statement serve to represent that 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. 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!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” reads his post on Truth.

The US Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Donald Trump exceeded his authority in imposing a swath of tariffs that upended global trade, blocking a key tool the president has wielded to impose his economic agenda.

The conservative-majority high court ruled six-three in the judgment, saying the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) "does not authorize the President to impose tariffs."

While Trump has long used tariffs as a lever for pressure and negotiations, he made unprecedented use of emergency economic powers upon returning to the presidency last year to slap new duties on virtually all US trading partners.

These included "reciprocal" tariffs over trade practices that Washington deemed unfair, alongside separate sets of duties targeting major partners Mexico, Canada and China over illicit drug flows and immigration.

The court on Friday noted that "had Congress intended to convey the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs" with IEEPA, "it would have done so expressly, as it consistently has in other tariff statutes."

The ruling does not impact sector-specific duties that Trump has separately imposed on imports of steel, aluminium, and various other goods. Formal probes, which could ultimately lead to more such sectoral tariffs, remain in the works.

The Supreme Court's decision affirms earlier findings by lower courts that the tariffs Trump imposed under IEEPA were illegal.

A lower trade court had ruled in May that Trump overstepped his authority with across-the-board levies and blocked most of them from taking effect, but that outcome had been put on hold as the government sought an appeal.