Trump announces 10% global tariff after raging over Supreme Court loss

President Trump: Signing an order to impose 10% global tariff above normal tariff rate

President Donald Trump said Friday he will sign an executive order imposing a new 10% “global tariff,” hours after the Supreme Court struck down his sweeping “reciprocal” import duties in a major rebuke of his trade agenda.

The new “Section 122” tariffs will come on top of the levies that remain intact following the high court’s decision, Trump said as he raged at the “deeply disappointing” ruling during a White House press briefing.

“I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump said.

The court’s ruling invalidated the legal underpinning of many of the tariffs that Trump insists are essential for the U.S. economy and for rebuilding America’s shrinking manufacturing base.

The justices struck down the tariffs Trump had imposed using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs and his drug-trafficking-related tariffs both hinged on that law.

The majority ruled Friday that IEEPA “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”

The newly proposed 10% tariffs, which come with a 150-day time limit, will effectively replace the IEEPA duties, a White House official told CNBC later Friday.

That could mean lower U.S. tariff rates for some of the countries that had either struck trade deals with the Trump administration, or were in ongoing trade talks.

That’s because many of those countries and regions had faced U.S. tariffs higher than 10% as part of those agreements. The European Union, for example, agreed to a 15% tariff as part of its trade deal with the U.S.

Those tariffs were largely implemented under IEEPA, meaning they were invalidated as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The shake-up could be significant for China, which faced two sets of 10% IEEPA-based U.S. tariffs in addition to a 25% duty that remains in effect. Those IEEPA tariffs will be replaced by Trump’s new global tariff, bringing China’s total rate of 35%, the White House official told CNBC.

Trump was adamant that he will find other ways to impose tariffs without Congress. And the White House official noted that as the administration works through additional legal tariff pathways, the rates imposed on individual countries may snap back to their higher levels.

When asked at Friday’s press briefing why he did not want to work with the legislative branch, Trump said, “I don’t have to. I have the right to do tariffs.”

Trump’s remarks vacillated between defiant and scathing. He even went after Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, whom he nominated, after they voted with the majority in the 6-3 tariff ruling.

“I think their decision was terrible,” Trump said. “I think it’s an embarrassment to their families, you want to know the truth. The two of them.”

He said he will sign an order later Friday imposing the new 10% duties, invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Tariffs created using that statute can last for only 150 days, with any extension requiring congressional approval.

Asked at the press briefing about that time limit and about getting congressional buy-in, Trump said, “We have the right to do pretty much what we want to do.”

Trump also declared that all the tariffs active under statutes known as Section 232 and Section 301 will remain “in full force and effect.”