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Donald Trump is implementing a new global tariff at 10 per cent rather than the 15 per cent rate announced at the weekend after his defeat at the Supreme Court, according to a notice from the US customs agency.
Trump’s move to apply a 10 per cent global levy from 12.01am on Tuesday, delaying the enactment of the 15 per cent tariff, follows a backlash to the higher rate from several US trading partners including the EU and the UK.
The White House signalled that Trump was still committed to setting a global tariff of 15 per cent. “It is being worked on and will come later,” an official said, without specifying a timeline.
After the Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the sweeping levies Trump imposed on US trading partners based on emergency powers were illegal, the president quickly moved to replace them under a different statute with a temporary global levy of 10 per cent for 150 days starting on Tuesday.
But on Saturday, in a Truth Social media post, Trump said he was “immediately” raising that global levy to 15 per cent — an increase that has not yet materialised.
The delayed application of the higher flat tariff could offer a window for governments and businesses to lobby for exemptions and secure preferential treatment from Trump under the new regime.
The Trump administration offered carve-outs for a wide range of products from the 10 per cent levy when it was announced on Friday, as well as many imports from Canada and Mexico.
The new global levy has generated a backlash among America’s European allies, which struck preferential trade agreements in exchange for lower tariffs with Trump last year, and are now seeing the benefits of those deals eroded.
On Monday, following weekend talks between senior US and UK officials, Downing Street hinted at possible retaliation, warning that “nothing is off the table” if the US imposes the 15 per cent levy.
Meanwhile, the EU is delaying ratification of its own trade deal with the US in response to the 15 per cent plan.
In a Monday evening call with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, Japan’s trade minister Ryosei Akazawa called on the US to ensure that any changes to the tariff regime would not result in a heavier burden on Japanese exports.
After months of negotiations, the two countries reached a deal in July under which tariffs on Japan’s automotive exports to the US were reduced from 27.5 per cent to 15 per cent, in exchange for $550bn of Japanese financing and investment in American infrastructure and industry.
Three projects, representing $36bn in financing requirements, were announced last week, and more are expected during a planned visit to Washington by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in March.
Taiwan, the US’s fourth-largest trading partner, said on Tuesday it was seeking fresh talks with Washington to stop a bilateral trade deal signed less than two weeks ago from being undermined by the latest tariffs and any other future levies the Trump administration might roll out.
Vice premier Cheng Li-chiun said the cabinet would not ask parliament to ratify the February 12 tariff agreement, which lowers US tariffs on Taiwanese exports to 15 per cent and grants the country most favoured nation status in exchange for opening its market to US cars and meat products and massive procurement commitments, until it had gained reassurances from Washington that the deal would override new tariffs.
The government will also delay ratification of an agreement reached in January that grants Taiwanese technology exports tariff-free quotas under future chip tariffs in exchange for $250bn in investments.
Taiwan’s trade surplus with the US ballooned to $146.8bn last year, the sixth largest among US trade partners, driven by soaring chip exports owing to the AI boom.
Semiconductors and related products account for 76 per cent of Taiwan’s exports to the US. They remain tariff-free.
But the latest levies put some of the island nation’s other exports such as machine tools or orchids — which would enjoy preferential treatment under the bilateral trade deal — at a disadvantage compared with competitors such as South Korea and the Netherlands.