U.S. President Donald Trump quickly responded after the Supreme Court invalidated his previous global tariffs by introducing a temporary 10% import tax on goods from all countries for 150 days. He signed executive orders late Friday to implement the new duties under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, with the tariffs set to take effect Tuesday. At the same time, the administration stopped collecting the tariffs that were struck down, which had been imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The new order keeps several existing exemptions, including those for aerospace products, passenger vehicles and certain light trucks, USMCA-compliant goods from Mexico and Canada, pharmaceuticals, and selected critical minerals and agricultural products.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the temporary 10% tariff, along with possible additional duties under Sections 301 and 232, would likely generate about the same amount of revenue in 2026 as the previous tariffs. He acknowledged that the Supreme Court’s decision weakened the administration’s negotiating power but said alternative legal tools would achieve similar tariff levels, though in a more complicated way.
Section 122, which has never been used before, allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days to address serious balance of payments issues without requiring a formal investigation. After that period, congressional approval is needed to extend them.
Trump also directed the U.S. Trade Representative to launch new country-specific investigations under Section 301 to examine unfair trade practices, though no particular countries were named. Existing probes involving China and Brazil are ongoing, and other trading partners such as Vietnam and Canada could face scrutiny.
