Trump’s new tariffs kick in at 10%, not the 15% he threatened

President Donald Trump’s reconstructed global tariffs took effect Tuesday at a rate of 10%, not the 15% the president promised after the Supreme Court annulled his sweeping import taxes last week.

The Supreme Court ruled most of Trump’s emergency tariff agenda illegal in a landmark decision on Feb. 20. Trump reacted by vowing to implement a 10% duty on all U.S. trading partners under a different trade law, before raising that number to 15% the next day.

But a Tuesday notice from Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that enforces trade law, said all imports would “be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of 10%,” with exception for certain products covered by pre-existing exemptions.

The notice did not offer any explanation for why the lower rate had been implemented. It was unclear whether the White House will raise the global tariff rate to 15% at a later date.

The new 10% tariffs, implemented under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, took effect early Tuesday as the newly defunct tariffs came to a halt, and hours before Trump was to address the economy as part of his State of the Union speech.

The lower rate added further confusion to U.S. trade policy as the fight over rebates for the tariffs deemed illegal by the Supreme Court rages on.

Absent an extension from Congress, Trump’s new 10% tariffs can only remain in effect for 150 days. House Speaker Mike Johnson, among Trump’s most reliable backers, has acknowledged that such an extension seems unlikely at the moment.

“It’s going to be, I think, a challenge to find consensus on any path forward on the tariffs, on the legislative side,” he said Monday.

The White House has punted on the question of refunds, while congressional Democrats have seized on the issue.