Hours after US Supreme Court order strikes down levies, Trump says he signed 10% ‘global tariff’

Hours after the United States Supreme Court struck down global tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on Friday, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a temporary levy of 10% on articles imported into the country.

“It is my Great Honour to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a Global Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately,” Trump said in a social media post.

Trump signed a proclamation imposing the temporary import duty, which will take effect on February 24.

The new tariffs will take effect for a maximum of 150 days, unless the US Congress approves an extension. This, however, leaves the status of recently-signed trade deals with other countries unclear.

With respect to India, Trump said that “nothing changes” and that the levies on New Delhi will continue. “They’ll be paying tariffs and we will not be paying tariffs,” he told reporters at the White House.

Trump on Friday signed the proclamation by invoking his authority under a provision of the 1974 Trade Act, which allows the US president to address “fundamental international payment problems” through surcharges and other import restrictions.

In April, Trump imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries, including India, claiming high tariffs the countries imposed on US goods. The levies were eventually reduced once bilateral trade deals had been agreed to, including in the case of India.

According to the framework for the deal with India, US tariffs on Indian goods will be reduced to 18% from a combined rate of 50%. The earlier rate of 50% had included a punitive levy of 25% imposed in August over India’s purchase of Russian oil.

Apart from India, the US also struck deals on tariffs with countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, setting levies at around 15% to 20%.

SC verdict ‘deeply disappointing’: Trump

Trump on Friday described the Supreme Court decision as “deeply disappointing”, NBC News reported. He said he was ashamed of some of the judges for the verdict, and described them as “very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution”.

The court, in a 6:3 verdict, said that Trump had exceeded his authority in imposing the levies. The judges said that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which Trump had invoked, “does not authorise the president to impose tariffs”.

The bench upheld a lower court’s ruling in May that Trump’s use of the Act exceeded his authority. While the lower court had ruled against the tariffs, they had remained in effect as a federal appeals court had on May 30 reinstated them temporarily.

The judgement does not affect all tariffs imposed by Trump. For example, the sector-specific duties he imposed on steel and aluminium, invoking other laws, remain in place.