Donald Trump announces 15% tariffs on US imports from all countries

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, he said he would be increasing this to the higher rate “effective immediately”.

Donald Trump said he would be increasing tariffs to 15% (Leon Neal/PA)

Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would raise a temporary tariff rate on US imports from all countries from 10% to 15%, less than 24 hours after the US supreme court ruled against the legality of his flagship trade policy.

The US president initially said he would impose a 10% levy after the Supreme Court struck down his previous import taxes on Friday.

Infuriated by the high court’s ruling on Friday that he had exceeded his authority and should have got congressional approval for the tariffs he introduced last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the US president railed against the justices who struck down his use of tariffs – calling them a “disgrace to the nation” – and ordered an immediate 10% tariff on all imports, in addition to any existing levies, under a separate law.

In a post on Truth Social on Saturday announcing the further increase, Trump wrote: “I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been ‘ripping’ the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.”

While Trump’s announcement claimed that the new tariffs would take effect “immediately”, it was unclear whether any official documents had been signed confirming the timing. 

A White House fact sheet issued on Friday regarding the original 10% tariffs said the levies would go into effect at 12.01am ET on Tuesday, 24 February.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday that he would travel to Washington with a coordinated European position after the US supreme court’s blow to Trump’s tariff agenda, and warned of the “poison” of more uncertainty.

He said that he expected the burden on German companies to ease after the supreme court’s ruling but added: “I want to try to make it clear to the American government that tariffs harm everyone.” “The biggest poison for the economies of Europe and the US is this constant uncertainty about tariffs. And this uncertainty must end,” Merz said.

French president Emmanuel Macron told journalists in Paris: “It is not bad to have a supreme court and, therefore, the rule of law. It is good to have power and counterweights to power in democracies.”