President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he is immediately raising his worldwide tariff from 10 percent to 15 percent, one day after the Supreme Court struck down his broader reciprocal tariff regime.
“Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday morning, he would raise the tariff to “the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.”
The move comes less than 24 hours after the Court ruled 6-3 that Trump exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Friday decision was one of the most significant checks on executive trade power in decades.
Trump responded by invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose import surcharges of up to 15 percent to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits. The initial executive order signed Friday evening set the rate at 10 percent on all goods imported into the United States, effective February 24 at 12:01 a.m.
By Saturday morning, Trump had already pushed the rate to the statutory ceiling.
“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again,” Trump added.
The White House framed the action as a necessary correction to decades of trade imbalances. A fact sheet released Friday said the surcharges would “stem the outflow of its dollars to foreign producers and incentivize the return of domestic production,” while “creating good-paying jobs, and lowering costs for consumers.”
Trump also took aim at the justices who ruled against him, saying he was “ashamed” of those who voted with the majority “for not having the Courage to do what is right for our Country.”
He reserved praise for the three dissenters. “My new hero is United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and, of course, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito,” Trump posted Saturday. “There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The 15 percent rate under Section 122 is already drawing scrutiny from legal scholars and trade analysts. The statute requires the president to demonstrate a genuine balance-of-payments problem, and critics argue the current U.S. trade deficit, while large, doesn’t meet the threshold Congress intended when it passed the law in 1974.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the tariff hike “economic chaos by executive fiat” in a Saturday statement, warning that American consumers would bear the cost through higher prices on imported goods.
Republicans on Capitol Hill have been more cautious. Several GOP senators who supported the Supreme Court’s decision on the reciprocal tariffs have declined to comment on the Section 122 action, with offices citing the need to “review the legal basis” before issuing public statements.
The 15 percent tariff applies to all articles imported into the United States and is set to remain in effect for 150 days. Trade groups representing retailers, manufacturers, and agricultural importers have signaled they intend to challenge the new tariffs in court, though any legal proceedings would likely take months to resolve.
Markets reacted sharply to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling and the rapid executive response. The S&P 500 closed down 1.2 percent Friday, and futures indicated further selling pressure heading into Monday’s open.
