Trump’s new global tariffs kick in at 10%
President Donald Trump’s new tariffs have come into effect today at a rate of 10%, after the US supreme court blocked many of his import taxes on Friday.
The president signed an executive order last Friday authorising the 10% tariffs just hours after the supreme court ruling. He later threatened to raise the rate to 15%, but did not officially do so by Tuesday 12.01am time in Washington, when the 10% levy came into effect.
However, Bloomberg is reporting that officials in the White House are working on a formal order that will increase the rate to 15%.
It comes after Trump declared this week that he can use tariffs in a “much more powerful and obnoxious way”.
The new tariffs, which Trump is applying under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, have triggered uncertainty with a number of US trading partners, including the UK (which negotiated a 10% rate with the US last year) and the EU.
On Monday the EU paused the process of ratification of the deal it had struck with the USlast July for the second time in a month, after it froze and unfroze the deal in the wake of Trump’s Greenland threats. The deal was for 15% blanket tariffs on EU imports that were inclusive of previous levies.
Meanwhile in the UK, a spokesperson for KeirStarmer, when asked whether retaliatory tariffs were an option, said:
No one wants to see a trade war. No one wants to see a situation that’s escalated. But as I say, nothing is off the table at this stage.
The agenda
- 5am GMT: EU car registrations
- 11am GMT: CBI Distributive trades for Feb
- 2pm GMT: Case-Shiller US home price index
- 2.15pm GMT: Bank of England governor to discuss MPC decision to hold interest rates at 3.75% with the Treasury Committee