Donald Trump has announced on his social media platform that he has signed an order to impose a 10% tariff on all countries, effective almost immediately. The proclamation invokes his authority under section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a rarely-used law that allows temporary import duties to address balance-of-payments deficits.
The move comes hours after the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the president's earlier tariffs, imposed using emergency powers, were illegal. Trump reacted with fury, calling the justices who ruled against him “ridiculous” and saying they “should be ashamed of themselves”. He then signed the new tariff order from the Oval Office.
Section 122 of the 1974 act has never been used before, and its legal limits stipulate that such tariffs can last no longer than 150 days and cannot exceed 15%. The White House fact sheet confirmed the tariff applies to all nations, with a long list of exceptions.
Critics of the president's tariffs have argued that refunds of the illegally collected tariffs are necessary. The Pentagon also announced that the US military killed three suspected drug smugglers in a strike in the eastern Pacific, though this was unrelated to the tariff dispute.
