A 15% global tariff recently announced by President Donald Trump will go into effect this week, up from the current rate of 10%, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said on Wednesday.
Besant predicted that US tariffs would be effectively restored by August, before the Supreme Court recently overturned the steep tariffs that Trump unilaterally imposed on most of the world last year.
“My strong belief is that tariff rates will go back to their old rate within five months,” Besant said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Trump last year, without authorization from Congress, implemented a wide range of tariffs on imports from other countries by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling on Feb. 20, said Trump did not have the legal authority to circumvent Congress by using the IEEPA to impose those duties.
Hours after that ruling, Trump said he had signed an executive order to impose a global 10% tariff under a different law. A day later, Trump said he would raise that new tariff rate to 15%, “effective immediately.”
But actually, when the tariff came into effect, it was only 10%.
In his interview on “Squawk Box,” Besant was asked about the difference between Trump’s promised 15% level and the current rate, and if Besant knew when the change to the higher level would occur.
“That could be sometime this week,” Besant said.
He noted that those countervailing duties, which are being imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, will last for only 150 days unless Congress approves an extension.
In that interim, the Office of the US Trade Representative and the Commerce Department will complete trade-related studies that would allow them to impose higher tariffs, Besant said.
“It is my strong belief that within five months the tariff rates will go back to their old rates and they are the most complete authorities,” Besant said.
“They have survived more than 4,000 legal challenges,” he said. “They move more slowly, but they are more robust.”
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