New York/Washington, February 21 US President Donald Trump on Saturday said he is raising, effective immediately, worldwide tariff rates on countries from 10 per cent to the “legally tested” 15 per cent.
The US president also criticised Friday's Supreme Court ruling that had invalidated the sweeping tariffs he had imposed last year. With the earlier announced tariff rate of 10 per cent to be applicable on countries around the world, Indian goods being imported into the US would no longer be subject to the 18 per cent tariff rate that had been decided following the announcement of a framework for an Interim Agreement on trade between India and the US. But that would change now with the new announcement of the 15 per cent tariff rates.
Trump said in a post on his social media that his decision to raise the tariffs to 15 per cent from Friday's 10 per cent was based “on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court.”
“... please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% 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% level,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“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!!!,” he added.
In a major setback to Trump’s pivotal economic agenda in his second term, the US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 verdict written by Chief Justice John Roberts, on Friday ruled that the tariffs imposed by Trump on nations around the world were illegal and that the President had exceeded his authority when he imposed the sweeping levies.
In a 6-3 vote on Friday, the judges found that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the imposition of duties. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Kavanaugh dissented in the court's decision. Justice Brett Kavanaugh US Supreme Court referred to the tariffs imposed on India for Russian oil purchases in his dissenting opinion.
Shortly after the verdict, Trump had issued a proclamation titled ‘Imposing a Temporary Import Surcharge to Address Fundamental International Payments Problems’, that imposed, for a period of 150 days, a “temporary import surcharge of 10 per cent ad valorem” on articles imported into the United States, effective February 24, 2026.
With his Truth Social post, that rate now stands at 15 per cent, dealing another chaotic decision on imports to countries and allies around the world, who are closely monitoring the erratic changes in tariff rates by the US and attempting to factor them in their trade with Washington.
India too faces a lower tariff rate of 10 per cent, down from 18 per cent, after Trump announced a new global levy on items imported into America in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict against his sweeping tariffs.
Earlier this month, as the US and India announced they reached a framework for an Interim Agreement on trade, Trump issued an Executive Order removing the 25 per cent punitive tariffs imposed on India for its purchases of Russian oil, with the US President noting the commitment by New Delhi to stop directly or indirectly importing energy from Moscow and purchasing American energy products.
Under the trade deal, Washington would charge a reduced reciprocal tariff on New Delhi, lowering it from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.
