Trump hikes US global tariff rate to 15% after court ruling

2026-02-23 - 00:56

By Nkiruka Nnorom with agency report UNITED States President, Donald Trump, has raised the global duty on imports into the United States to 15 per cent, doubling down on his promise to maintain his aggressive tariff policy after the Supreme Court ruled against it as illegal. 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 programme, the administration was hiking the import levies to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15 per cent level. Shortly after the court’s 6-3 ruling that rejected the president’s authority to impose tariffs under a 1977 Economic Emergency Powers Act, Trump had initially announced a new 10 per cent global levy by invoking a different legal avenue. At the same time, the Republican launched an extraordinary personal attack on the conservative justices who had sided with the majority, slamming their “disloyalty” and calling them “fools and lap dogs.” The ruling was a stunning rebuke by the high court, which has largely sided with the president since he returned to office, and marked a major political setback in striking down Trump’s signature economic policy that has roiled the global trade order. The announcement is the latest move in a process that has seen a multitude of tariff levels for countries sending goods into the United States set and then altered or revoked by Trump’s team over the past year. Several countries have said they are studying the Supreme Court ruling and Trump’s subsequent tariff announcements. Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on Sunday urged Donald Trump to treat all countries equally. “I want to tell the US President, Donald Trum,p that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told reporters in New Delhi. German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said Saturday he would hold talks with European allies to formulate “a very clear European position” and joint response to Washington before he travels to the US capital in early March. The new duty by law is only temporary, allowable for 150 days. According to a White House fact sheet, exemptions remain for sectors that are under separate probes, including pharma, and goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement. On Friday, the White House said US trading partners that reached separate tariff deals with Trump’s administration would also face the new global tariff. Friday’s court ruling did not impact sector-specific duties Trump separately imposed on steel, aluminum and various other goods. Government probes still underway could lead to additional sectoral tariffs. But it, nevertheless, marked Trump’s biggest defeat at the Supreme Court since returning to the White House 13 months ago. The court has generally expanded his power.