Decision comes after the Supreme Court overturns the US president’s tariffs
President Donald Trump signed this Friday (20) an order that imposes 10% tariff on all countries. The decree is a reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision to end tariffs and will come into effect on February 24, for a period of 150 days, according to a statement from the White House.
“New tariffs, fully tested and accepted by law, are on the way,” he wrote in Truth Social. “It is with great honor that I signed from the Oval Office the global rate of 10% for all countries, which will be implemented almost immediately,” he added.
The republican had already promised the action in a speech at the White House on Friday (20) when he gave his opinion on the cut in international tariffs. “I’m going in a different direction, probably the direction I should have gone in originally, which is even stronger than our initial choice. Today I will sign an order to impose a 10% global tariff,” said the US president.
Donald Trump also stated that these alternatives were already on his radar the moment he found out about the decision to veto the charging of tariffs and that, therefore, the government would continue to tax other countries in some way. He further added that with countries that have not been “as good” to the US, charge would be even higher.
The president also said at the time that the Supreme Court does not use the power it has over laws “for nothing”, just to overturn tariffs. He stated that a president has the right to charge other countries to protect their own nation. “A president can tax even more than I was taxing,” he concluded.
Supreme Court ruling
The US Supreme Court ruled on Friday (20) that Donald Trump exceeded his authority by imposing a series of tariffs that have destabilized global trade, blocking a fundamental tool that the president has used to implement his economic agenda.
The Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, ruled by six votes to three, affirming that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) “does not authorize the president to impose tariffs”.
Although Trump has long used tariffs as an instrument of pressure and negotiation, he has unprecedented use of emergency economic powers upon returning to the presidency last year to impose new tariffs on virtually all of America’s trading partners.
These tariffs included “reciprocal” tariffs on commercial practices that Washington considered unfair, in addition to separate sets of tariffs aimed at important partners such as Mexico, Canada and China due to drug trafficking and immigration.
The Court noted Friday that “if Congress had intended to confer the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs” with IEEPA, “it would have done so expressly, as it has consistently done in other tariff laws.”
