President Donald Trump announced he is imposing a ten percent global tariff on top of tariffs already in place after the Supreme Court struck down his duties imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Trump’s announcement came during a press briefing the White House scheduled on short notice after the 6-3 ruling against the IEEPA tariffs, in which Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with liberal judges to rule against the president.
The 10 percent global tariff Trump is imposing on Friday is not under IEEPA but under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which Justice Brett Kavanaugh emphasized is another vehicle for imposing tariffs in his dissenting opinion.
“Effective immediately, all national security tariffs under Section 232, and existing Section 301, tariffs… remain in place, fully in place, and in full force and effect,” Trump said.
“Today, I will sign an order to impose a 10 percent global tariff under Section 122, over and above our normal tariffs already being charged, and we’re also initiating several Section 301 and other investigations to protect our country from unfair trading practices of other countries and companies,” he added.
Section 122 empowers the president to address “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits through import surcharges of up to 15 percent.
Along with Section 122, Kavanaugh pointed to Sections 201 and 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, as well as Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as pathways for future tariffs.
“The Supreme Court did not overrule tariffs. They merely overruled a particular use of IEEPA tariffs,” Trump stressed during the briefing.
“It’s okay, because we have other ways, numerous other ways,” he went on to add. “The ability to block, embargo, restrict license, or impose any other condition on a foreign country’s ability to conduct trade with the United States under IEEPA has been fully confirmed by this decision.”
Trump also expressed that he is “ashamed of certain members of the court” after the ruling, while praising Kavanaugh. He notably nominated Coney Barrett and Gorsuch to the court in his first term.
“Others think they’re being politically correct, which has happened before, far too often with certain members of this court… when in fact, they’re just being fools and lap dogs for the RINOs and the radical left Democrats,” he said at one point.
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