Donald Trump moved after a Supreme Court ruling deemed his use of a law was illegal.
President Trump says he has ramped up tariffs on every country to the maximum allowed by US law after being humiliated by the Supreme Court’s ruling. During a televised meltdown last night, Trump declared he was replacing his illegal regime of retaliatory tariffs with a global 10 per cent levy.
It comes after the Supreme Court ruled his use of an obscure “emergency” law to impose them without consulting Congress was illegal. And tonight, Trump announced he was increasing that figure, reports the Mirror.
Labelling the highest court’s decision “ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American”, he wrote on his Truth Social platform that he was hiking the global tariff rate to the maximum legal level of 15 per cent. However, he’s only allowed to do so for 150 days under the loophole his administration has found.
The UK’s biggest business organisation swiftly expressed dismay at the announcement and urged the Government to continue dialogue with US counterparts to keep the UK’s competitive advantage.
“We had feared that the President’s plan B response could be worse for British businesses and so it is proving,” William Bain, head of trade policy at the BCC said.
“This means an extra 5% increase in tariffs on a wide range of UK goods exports to the US, except those covered under the Economic Prosperity Deal.
“This will be bad for trade, bad for US consumers and businesses and weaken global economic growth. Businesses on both sides of the Atlantic need a period of clarity and certainty. Higher tariffs are not the way to achieve that.”
The UK Government repeated its assertion that it expects Britain’s “privileged trading position with the US” to continue, when approached for comment on the announcement of a new 15% rate.
Britain had received the lowest tariff rate of 10 per cent, and a subsequent agreement struck by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Trump saw further carve-outs for the country’s steel industry and car manufacturers.
Questions remain over whether those deals still stand, although officials are understood to believe the changes would not have an impact on most of the UK’s trade with America, including preferential arrangements on steel, cars and pharmaceuticals.
A Government spokesperson said: “This is a matter for the US to determine but we will continue to support UK businesses as further details are announced.
“Under any scenario, we expect our privileged trading position with the US to continue and will work with the administration to understand how the ruling will affect tariffs for the UK and the rest of the world.”
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