Trump moves to lift global tariff to 15% after court setback; Chinese expert warns of politicized trade measures harming global supply chains and US economy

The US Capitol Photo: VCG

US President Donald Trump said Saturday local time that he would raise his new global tariff to 15 percent, The New York Times (NYT) reported. The move came a day after the US Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs under a law meant for national emergencies were illegal. Following the ruling, Trump claimed he would sign an order imposing a 10 percent global tariff to replace some of the emergency duties struck down by the court, according to Xinhua News Agency. 

Multiple outlets, including the Associated Press, described the latest escalation as another sign of Trump’s unpredictable use of tariffs — a tool he frequently deploys to reshape global trade rules and exert international pressure.

The US is deeply intertwined with global trade and supply chains, and the Trump administration’s arbitrary use of tariffs has created policy confusion that shocks global commerce and ultimately harms both its trading partners and itself, a Chinese expert said.

“I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10 percent Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been ‘ripping’ the US off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15 percent level,” according to Trump’s Saturday social-media post, Bloomberg reported.

Some White House staff members were caught off guard by the increase, people familiar with the matter said. It came less than 24 hours after the president had announced his 10 percent rate, NYT reported.

The president’s efforts to restore and maintain the tariffs underscored the economic volatility ahead. The tools he is left with are less nimble than the sweeping authority he had claimed under emergency powers and will be subjected to fresh legal challenges, according to Bloomberg.

The act means that US businesses will have to pay a 15 percent tariff to import most goods into the US under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, BBC reported.

Gao Lingyun, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday that the current US tariff decisions are highly arbitrary, with the Trump administration wielding tariffs as a political weapon. “Tariff policy should be based on rigorous assessment, not political preference,” he said.

Gao said the newly announced across-the-board 15 percent tariff constitutes a sudden policy adjustment, and its negative impact has yet to be quantified. Structurally, if the US Supreme Court invalidates the previous “reciprocal” tariffs and they are withdrawn, only to be reimposed under a new legal framework at a uniform rate, the overall tariff burden and effective levels would not differ substantially from before. “If tariffs are applied universally to all countries, the relative competitive landscape would see little change, meaning that the actual impact on China would be limited,” he said.

For some countries, such as the UK and Australia, Trump’s new 15 percent tariff will actually be higher than the rates that previously applied to their exports to the US. For others, like China, Vietnam, India and Brazil, the new rate will be significantly lower, according to The New York Times.

Gao noted that a uniform tariff rate would create relative shifts among countries. China had previously faced tariff levels generally above 15 percent, so if a flat 15 percent rate were applied, the nominal burden would be lower than before. By contrast, some US allies that had enjoyed rates below 15 percent would see an increase. “If the Supreme Court nullifies the previous rates, it would effectively place all countries back on the same starting line. That said, tariff hikes are inherently negative for trade, as they raise costs across the board – which is a separate issue,” he said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday that he would travel to Washington with a coordinated European position after the US supreme court’s blow to Trump’s tariff agenda, and warned of the “poison” of more uncertainty, the Guardian reported. He said that he expected the burden on German companies to be eased after the supreme court’s ruling but added: “I want to try to make it clear to the American government that tariffs harm everyone.”

Allie Renison, a former UK government trade adviser and director at SEC Newgate, said: “While it may seem like a good day for free trade, I think trade actually just got a lot messier,” BBC reported.

She said that businesses are now facing “much more of a patchwork approach” to tariffs under the Trump administration.

The new 15 percent import tariffs are “bad for trade, bad for US consumers and businesses” and will “weaken global economic growth,” the leader of a UK business group said, BBC reported.

A Federal Reserve Bank of New York report released on February 12, using data from the US Census Bureau through November 2025, found US consumers and firms paid for nearly 90 percent of the tariffs in 2025.

The 10 percent tariffs were set to come into force on Tuesday (February 24). It’s unclear if the increased 15 percent would also be imposed starting then, BBC said.

Gao said global supply chains are deeply interconnected, and frequent, arbitrary tariff adjustments erode policy predictability, undermine free trade rules and disrupt supply-chain stability. Such moves not only affect other countries, but could also backfire on the US economy, hitting American businesses and consumers.