Washington: Donald Trump’s new worldwide tariff on imports to America is about to go into effect – at 10 per cent, not 15 per cent as threatened – as the US president vowed to retaliate against any country that “played games”, and belittled the Supreme Court on social media.
It comes as transport and logistics giant FedEx sued the Trump administration for “a full refund” of the tariffs Trump had imposed using emergency powers, which were ruled unlawful by the nation’s highest court last week.
A US Customs and Border Protection bulletin issued on Monday evening (Washington time) said the new global tariff would be collected from midnight (4pm AEDT) at a rate of 10 per cent – the level Trump initially announced after the court’s bombshell decision. A separate notice confirmed that the collection of the old duties would cease at the same time.
Despite Trump posting on social media the day after the court ruling that he would “immediately” lift the rate to 15 per cent, the text of his proclamation was not changed or reissued. It means that, for now, Australian exports to the US will attract essentially the same tariff as before the court ruling.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the government would continue to make its case against tariffs on Australian goods: “We repeat our view that these tariffs are unfair.”
The new worldwide tariff is enacted under the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the US president to impose temporary tariffs of up to 15 per cent for 150 days to deal with urgent balance-of-payments shortfalls. After that, Congress would have to extend the tariffs.
Trump continued to rage against the Supreme Court in a series of social media posts on Monday, spelling its name in lower case letters to indicate his “complete lack of respect” for the nation’s highest court.
“Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves,” he wrote.
Trump predicted the court would rule “in favour of China” when it considers the legality of his executive order to end automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the US to parents without legal status, or who are in the country temporarily.
“Let our supreme court keep making decisions that are so bad and deleterious to the future of our Nation – I have a job to do,” he wrote. Supreme Court justices are expected to attend Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night (Washington time).
The president asserted the court had affirmed the legality of all tariffs other than the ones he had enacted using emergency powers. He also claimed he did not need to get congressional approval for tariffs: “It has already been gotten, in many forms, a long time ago!”
Trump warned foreign countries not to “play games” with the new tariff regime. That remark came after the European Union said it was pausing ratification of its trade deal with the US while it sought clarity on what Trump intended to do next.
“At this point in time, we do not have that, and it’s not up to us to provide it. A deal is a deal,” said European Commission spokesman Olof Gill in Brussels. “We are simply saying to the US: it’s up to you to clearly show to us what path you are taking to honour the agreement.”
In a Truth Social post, Trump said: “Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to. BUYER BEWARE!!!”
The White House did not respond to inquiries about exemptions for Australia or other countries with which the US already enjoys a trade surplus, nor questions about whether the rate would still go up to 15 per cent.
Analysis by the Switzerland-based Global Trade Alert found that at a blanket 15 per cent rate, the EU would face a trade-weighted average tariff that was 0.77 percentage points higher than before the Supreme Court ruling. The trade-weighted average tariff on Australian exports would be 1.84 percentage points higher.
Whether it is 10 or 15 per cent, the biggest beneficiaries would be Brazil, China and India, whose average tariffs would be significantly lower than before the court ruling.
Justin Wolfers, an Australian economics professor at the University of Michigan, noted that while Australia might lose its comparative advantage under a flat worldwide tariff, it would benefit the economy of Australia’s biggest trading partner, China.
Meanwhile, FedEx appeared to become the first major US company to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for refunds of the tariffs improperly collected over the past year.
The company did not say how much it was seeking. The suit was filed in the Court of International Trade, which first struck down the tariffs last year – and the court to which the Supreme Court said further challenges for refunds should be made.
Trump called it “crazy” that the Supreme Court did not make a ruling on refunds. He said litigation would probably continue for years, while US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he did not think the American people would see an estimated $US175 billion ($248 billion) in potential refunds.
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.