File photo of US President Donald Trump
Washington, United States: President Donald Trump raised the global duty on imports into the United States to 15 percent on Saturday, doubling down on his promise to maintain his aggressive tariff policy a day after the Supreme Court ruled much of it illegal.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that after a thorough review of Friday's "extraordinarily anti-American decision" by the court to rein in his tariff program, the administration was hiking the import levies "to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level."
Shortly after the court's 6-3 ruling that rejected the president's authority to impose tariffs under a 1977 economic emergency powers act, Trump had initially announced a new 10 percent global levy by invoking a different legal avenue.
At the same time, the Republican launched an extraordinary personal attack on the conservative justices who had sided with the majority, slamming their "disloyalty"
It is the latest move in a process that has seen a multitude of tariff levels for countries sending goods into the United States set and then altered or revoked by Trump's team over the past year.
Several countries have said they are studying the Supreme Court ruling and Trump's subsequent tariff announcements.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday urged Donald Trump to treat all countries equally.
"I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don't want a new Cold War. We don't want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally," Lula told reporters in New Delhi.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Saturday he would hold talks with European allies to formulate "a very clear European position" and joint response to Washington before he travels to the US capital in early March.
On the domestic front, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said on X it was time for Trump to "listen to the Supreme Court, end chaotic tariffs, and stop wreaking havoc on our farmers, small business owners, and families."
The new duty by law is only temporary -- allowable for 150 days. According to a White House fact sheet, exemptions remain for sectors that are under separate probes, including pharma, and goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.
On Friday, the White House said US trading partners that reached separate tariff deals with Trump's administration would also face the new global tariff.
