updated ,first published
Washington: US President Donald Trump announced new global tariffs of 15%, a day after ordering 10% tariffs worldwide following the Supreme Court’s decision to abolish the previous “reciprocal” import tariff system.
President Trump announced on social media on Saturday (Washington time) that the new tariffs would be increased to 15% and effective immediately, “based on a thorough, detailed and complete review of the ridiculous, ill-conceived, and extremely un-American decision on tariffs issued yesterday.”
The new tariffs will begin on Tuesday (Washington time) and will last for 150 days. This replaces an old system that imposed a 10% tariff on Australian imports, the lowest of virtually any country.
President Trump’s post on Truth Social does not indicate any exemptions for countries where the United States enjoys a trade surplus, such as Australia. He said the 15% tax rate applies to countries around the world, “many of which have been ‘looting’ from the United States for decades without retaliation.”
He added, “In the coming months, the Trump Administration will decide on and issue new legally permissible tariffs, continuing our extraordinarily successful process of making America great again – greater than ever!!! Thank you for your attention to this issue.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for further information. The revised order text is not yet available.
There was no immediate response from the Australian government overnight, but it has consistently opposed President Trump’s tariffs on Australian goods, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling them “not the act of a friend.”
President Trump’s latest action comes the next day. he was furious at the Supreme Court’s decision The president’s emergency powers will be used to abolish the previous system of so-called reciprocal tariffs, which were applied at different tax rates.
The majority ruled in a 6-3 vote that “only Congress” has the power to impose permanent tariffs and raise revenue, although Trump did so in a manner that exceeded his presidential authority.
The new tariffs use a different mechanism, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15 percent for 150 days to address pressing balance of payments concerns. The United States had a trade deficit of about $900 billion ($1.27 trillion) last year, according to Commerce Department data.
But Neel Katyal, a lawyer who successfully argued tariff challenges before the Supreme Court, also questioned the legality of the new tariffs. He noted that the Department of Justice had said in court that a trade deficit is “conceptually distinct” from a balance of payments deficit.
“if [Trump] “If he wants big tariffs, he should do what America does and go to Congress. If his tariffs are such a good idea, he should have no trouble convincing Congress,” Katiyal wrote after the president announced the 15% hike. That is what our Constitution requires. ”
Either way, the new tariffs must be extended by Congress after 150 days. President Trump also directed the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to launch a formal investigation into trade practices, with a view to expanding sectoral tariffs on certain products, such as steel and aluminum.
These were not affected by the Supreme Court’s decision, which only considered “reciprocal tariffs” imposed through emergency powers.
On Friday, President Trump held a press conference in response to the court’s decision, criticizing the court’s “terrible” and “very disappointing” decision, calling it “flawed” and legally wrong.
The president has particularly disdained two judges he appointed in his first term who ruled against tariffs, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, accusing them of disloyalty. Trump continued to rant late in the day on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“What happened today? [Gorsuch and Barrett]”Whether people like it or not, that never seems to happen with Democrats. They vote against Republicans, and they almost never vote against themselves, no matter how good the case is,” he posted.
President Trump praised Brett Kavanaugh, who was appointed to the bench in 2018, but Kavanaugh joined conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas in dissenting from the majority opinion.
The court’s ruling has prompted calls for billions of dollars in tariff revenue to be returned to American companies and small business importers who bear the brunt of the costs. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among the business groups calling for a “prompt return,” and California Governor Gavin Newsom has called on the president to return every dollar “with interest.”
But President Trump criticized the Supreme Court for not issuing a ruling on refunds, saying the issue would likely have to be litigated in court for years.
“I feel like the American people don’t understand it,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said bluntly in an interview when asked about the fight over $175 billion in improperly collected revenues.
In the wake of the court’s ruling on Saturday (Washington time), President Trump announced he was withdrawing his support for Jeff Hurd, one of six Republicans in Congress who supported a resolution earlier this month to eliminate Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
The decision to withdraw support underscores the depth of President Trump’s feelings about the tariff system and what is at stake for a Republican Party that cannot support it.
“Congressman Hurd is one of the few members of Congress who has let me and our country down,” President Trump wrote on social media. “He is more interested in protecting a foreign country that has exploited us for decades than he is in the United States.”
Get messages directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s trending around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.