Trump raises worldwide tariffs from 10% to 15% in less than 24 hours!!!On February 21, 2026, President
Donald Trump announced he is raising a new global tariff to 15%, effective immediately.
This decision comes less than 24 hours after he initially proposed a 10% rate in response to a major legal setback from the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump’s new strategy consists of a one-two punch of replacement tariffs.
1 First, the 15 percent global import tax, which legally is valid for
just 150 days.
2 Second, a flurry of new
national security tariffs on individual industries and country-specific levies designed to combat alleged unfair trading practices.
Key Details of the Announcement- Legal Basis: The 15% tariff is being imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a never-before-used provision that allows the president to address "large and serious balance-of-payment deficits".
- Duration: This authority is temporary, lasting for a maximum of 150 days unless Congress authorizes an extension.
- Scope: The tariff applies to nearly all imports from all countries, though specific exemptions include goods from Canada and Mexico (under USMCA), as well as certain pharmaceuticals, electronics, and agricultural products like beef.
- Effective Date: The new global tariff regime is scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.
Key Details of the Announcement
- Legal Basis: The 15% tariff is being imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a never-before-used provision that allows the president to address "large and serious balance-of-payment deficits".
- Duration: This authority is temporary, lasting for a maximum of 150 days unless Congress authorizes an extension.
- Scope: The tariff applies to nearly all imports from all countries, though specific exemptions include goods from Canada and Mexico (under USMCA), as well as certain pharmaceuticals, electronics, and agricultural products like beef.
- Effective Date: The new global tariff regime is scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.
Trump says he’ll raise tariffs to 15% after Supreme Court ruling
On February 21, 2026, President
Donald Trump announced he is raising a new global tariff to 15%, effective immediately.
This decision comes less than 24 hours after he initially proposed a 10% rate in response to a major legal setback from the
U.S. Supreme Court.
Updated 12:12 PM MST, February 21, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he wants a global tariff of 15%, up from 10% he had announced a day earlier after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down many of the far-reaching taxes on imports that he had imposed over the last year.
After the Supreme Court decision, Trump made an unusually personal attack on the justices
who ruled against him in a 6-3 vote, including two of those he
appointed during his first term, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney
Barrett. Trump, at a news conference on Friday, said that the situation
is “an embarrassment to their families.”
He was still seething
Friday night, posting on social media complaining about Gorsuch, Coney
Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts, who ruled with the majority and
wrote the majority opinion. On Saturday morning, Trump issued another
post declaring that his “new hero” was Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who
wrote a 63-page dissent. He also praised Justices Clarence Thomas and
Samuel Alito, who were in the minority, and said of the three dissenting
justices: “There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they want to, MAKE
AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump’s announcement on social media was the latest sign that despite the court’s check on his powers, the Republican president still intends to ratchet up tariffs
in an unpredictable way. Tariffs have been his favorite tool for
rewriting the rules of global commerce and applying international
pressure.
The court’s decision on Friday struck down tariffs that
Trump had imposed on nearly every country using an emergency powers
law. Trump now said he will use a different, albeit more limited, legal
authority.
- He’s already signed an executive order
- He wrote on social media that he was making the announcement “based
on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly
written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued
yesterday.”
By a 6-3 vote, the justices ruled that it was unconstitutional for
Trump to unilaterally set and change tariffs because the power to tax
lies with Congress.
In addition to the temporary tariffs that
Trump wants to set at 15%, the president said Friday that he was also
pursuing tariffs through other sections of federal law which require an
investigation by the Commerce Department.
He wrote on Saturday
that “during the next short number of months, the Trump Administration
will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which
will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America
Great Again.”
Federal data shows the Treasury had collected more than $133 billion
from the import taxes the president has imposed under the emergency
powers law as of December, and Trump has made many promises about what
that money might go toward, such as paying down the national debt and
sending dividend checks to taxpayers.
The
blockbuster Supreme Court ruling that invalidated President Donald
Trump’s emergency tariffs ends one chapter of economic uncertainty and
begins another.
Even
as the nation’s high court determined Friday that the president had
exceeded his authority by slapping tariffs on goods from just about
every country in the world, Trump made clear at a White House news
conference that he was determined to do so again, though this time
within the bounds of the law.
Assembling that presidential “Plan B” will take months, meaning the
tariff-fueled confusion that has weighed on the economy will linger as
the November congressional elections draw nearer. . .
The
Justice Department said in court filings last year that the government
would provide refunds if the tariffs were struck down. But following the
Supreme Court ruling, which provided no guidance on the issue, Trump
warned that importers and the government “will end up being in court for
the next five years” haggling over it.
That’s hardly the only legal question. On Saturday, Neal Katyal, the attorney who helped win the Supreme Court challenge, questioned the validity of Trump’s new 15 percent global rate, saying any “sweeping tariffs” should first be approved by Congress.
Context: The Supreme Court Ruling
The 15% move followed a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling on February 20, 2026,
which struck down Trump's previous "reciprocal" tariff program. The
court ruled that the president exceeded his authority by using the
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to bypass Congress.
Trump responded by calling the decision "ridiculous" and
"anti-American".
Economic and Legal Uncertainty
- Refund Battles: The ruling has triggered a massive legal dispute over approximately $142 billion to $170 billion in duties collected in 2025 that companies are now seeking to have refunded.
- Market Impact: Analysts from The Budget Lab at Yale
suggest these tariffs could increase consumer prices by 0.6% in the
short run and lead to a 0.3 percentage point rise in unemployment by the
end of 2026.
- International Reaction:
Global trade partners have expressed concern, with German Chancellor
Friedrich Merz describing the "constant uncertainty" as "poison" for the
European and U.S. economies.
