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Trump Raises US Global Import Tariff to 15% After Supreme Court Limits Powers

Trump Raises US Global Import Tariff to 15% After Supreme Court Limits Powers
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President Donald Trump said he would raise the United States’ new global import tariff to 15 percent, the maximum allowed under a little‑used 1974 trade law, just a day after the Supreme Court struck down his earlier tariff regime as an unlawful use of emergency powers cnn +1. The move, announced Saturday on social media and described as “effective immediately,” threatened to reshape global trade flows and deepen tensions with key U.S. allies cnn +1.

A High‑Court Rebuff and a New Legal Path

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that Trump had exceeded his authority by relying on the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs on nearly all U.S. imports, holding that the law did not permit him to rewrite tariff schedules on such a broad scale theguardian. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that IEEPA “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs,” invoking the court’s “major questions” doctrine to rein in unilateral executive action on core economic policy theguardian.

Within hours, Trump pivoted to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows a president to levy temporary, across‑the‑board tariffs of up to 15 percent for 150 days to address a “large and serious balance‑of‑payments deficit,” after which any extension requires congressional approval aljazeera +1. No president had previously invoked Section 122, and legal experts said the statute’s time limit and balance‑of‑payments language could become new battlegrounds if the White House seeks to prolong or broaden the measure aljazeera +1.

Global Fallout and Domestic Economic Stakes

The administration signaled that some critical minerals, select metals and energy products would be exempted, and that certain country‑specific deals — such as arrangements that left Malaysia and Cambodia facing 19 percent tariffs — would remain unchanged aljazeera +1. But close allies including the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia warned the 15 percent blanket rate would raise costs and uncertainty, with Australia’s government vowing to “examine all options” to avoid the new duties nbcnews +1.

At home, business groups pressed for swift refunds on an estimated $130–$175 billion in tariffs collected under the now‑invalidated IEEPA program, even as they braced for higher costs under the new scheme aljazeera +1. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said refunds would be “meaningful for the more than 200,000 small business importers” hit by the earlier duties, while retail and manufacturing associations warned that broad 15 percent tariffs would feed inflation and squeeze margins aljazeera +1. Financial markets initially welcomed the Supreme Court ruling, with the S&P 500 rising about 0.3 percent and the dollar slipping, but analysts cautioned that the renewed tariff push reopened risks for trade‑sensitive sectors from autos to consumer goods cbsnews.

The Bigger Picture

The clash underscored a fundamental struggle over who controls U.S. trade policy: a president willing to test the outer bounds of statutory authority, a Supreme Court newly assertive in policing those limits, and a divided Congress now holding the key to whether the 15 percent tariffs can survive beyond 150 days theguardian +1. With allies threatening responses and import‑reliant businesses facing a fresh round of uncertainty, the coming months will determine whether this latest tariff shock is a short‑lived legal workaround — or the template for a more permanent, and more contested, shift in the global trading order.