WASHINGTON DC: Hours after the US Supreme Court struck down his sweeping "reciprocal" import duties in a major rebuke of his trade agenda, President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will sign an executive order imposing a new 10% "global tariff." The new tariffs will come on top of the existing levies that remain intact following the Supreme Court's decision, Trump said as he raged at the ruling during a White House press briefing.
The US president said that he would have stronger alternatives to tariffs and that he would go in the right direction. He claimed that the Supreme Court ruling has made him stronger.
He said that the Supreme Court ruling deeply disappointed him. He will sign an executive order later Friday imposing the new duties, which are being invoked under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Tariffs conjured using that statute can only last for 150 days, with any extension requiring congressional approval.
Trump said that the Supreme Court was swayed by foreign interests, but the foreign countries would not dance for long.
The President claimed that he used tariffs to end five wars. He said that the court did not discuss tariff refunds, and tariff refunds will be litigated for years.
Asked at the press briefing about that time limit, Trump said, "We have the right to do pretty much what we want to do."
Trump also declared that all of the tariffs currently active under statutes known as Section 232 and Section 301 will remain "in full force and effect."
The Trump administration is also wielding Section 301 to launch several investigations into potentially unfair trade practices, which could result in additional new tariffs, Trump said. (Agencies)
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