US President Donald Trump has declared an extra 10 per cent tariff on all imports into the United States following the American Supreme Court's decision to strike down many of the tariffs imposed by him as part of his 'America First' economic policy, reported NDTV. After signing the new tariff decree, Trump posted on social media that the decree is "effective almost immediately" after spending the last year imposing various tariffs to coax and penalise countries, both friends and foes.
The new obligation is expected to come into effect from February 24 for a period of 150 days, with exemptions continuing for industries that are under other probes, including pharma and imported goods to the US under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement, according to a White House factsheet. Countries that had tariff agreements with the Trump administration will be required to pay a 10 per cent tariff, even if they had agreed to pay higher rates, the White House said.
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NDTV cited a White House official informing AFP that the administration would seek ways to apply more appropriate or pre-negotiated tariff rates in the future.
Trump later said that the Supreme verdict changes "nothing" for the India-US trade deal. "They'll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs. So the deal with India is they pay tariffs.... It's a fair deal now, and we are not paying tariffs to them, and they are paying tariffs. We did a little flip...The India deal is on...all the deals are on, we're just going to do it" in a different way," Trump was quoted as saying by NDTV.
What did the US Supreme Court say?
Earlier on Friday, with a 6-3 split decision, the court declared that a law from 1977 that Trump has been using to impose sudden tariffs on countries around the world, "does not authorise the President to impose tariffs". Trump, who had nominated two of the justices who ultimately ruled against him, lashed out in anger, claiming that the court had been influenced by foreign interests.
"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.
"In order to protect our country, a president can actually charge more tariffs than I was charging in the past," Trump said, insisting that the ruling left him "more powerful".
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India-US trade deal after tariff blow
The India-US trade "deal is on", said Donald Trump, even as the United States Supreme Court ruled that the American president's sweeping emergency tariffs are illegal.
