White House Answers the Tariff Ruling With a 15% Global Surcharge
Days after the Supreme Court invalidated the emergency-powers levies, the administration invoked a rarely used balance-of-payments statute to reimpose a worldwide tariff — this time with a 150-day fuse.
WASHINGTON — A global import surcharge of 15% took effect Tuesday, four days after the Supreme Court struck down the emergency-powers tariffs it replaces and one day after the president raised the planned rate from 10% to the maximum the law allows.
The new duties rest on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a provision written to let a president respond to "large and serious" balance-of-payments deficits. It has almost never been used. Its ceiling is 15%, and its authority lapses automatically after 150 days unless Congress votes to extend it.
A narrower instrument
The switch from emergency powers to Section 122 changed the tariff regime in ways importers noticed immediately.
- The rate is capped. No country-specific rates above 15% can be layered on through this statute.
- The clock is real. The 150-day limit is written into the text, not left to executive discretion.
- Section 232 duties survive. Sectoral tariffs on metals, autos and other goods continue on their own legal footing, and investigations covering pharmaceuticals and medical devices remain open.
What it means for prices
Importers had spent the previous week trying to work out whether their landed costs were about to fall. The answer, for most, was no — or not for long. A 15% across-the-board surcharge lands close to the effective average that many companies were already paying, though the distribution shifted: countries that had faced steep country-specific rates saw relief, while those that had negotiated lower rates saw increases.
The refund overhang
Meanwhile, the Court of International Trade began working through the question the Supreme Court left open: who gets back the roughly $160 billion collected under the invalidated program, and how. Customs brokers reported a surge of client questions about protective filings, and several large importers disclosed potential receivables in their quarterly reports.
For the Treasury, the stakes run in the other direction. Tariff receipts had become a meaningful revenue line, and a refund order of the size analysts have projected would land as a one-time fiscal shock.
