President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a temporary 10% global tariff to take effect for 150 days as a replacement for emergency duties that the U.S. Supreme Court recently invalidated. The administration said the move will be carried out under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and that the additional duties will be applied over and above tariffs that are already in place.
Section 122 grants the president the authority to impose duties of up to 15% for a period of up to 150 days on any and all countries when related to "large and serious" balance of payments issues, and it does so without requiring formal investigations or other procedural constraints, according to the order announced on Friday.
The action follows a Supreme Court decision that struck down the broader global tariffs the president had imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a ruling that concluded the prior use of that statute exceeded presidential authority. In the wake of that decision, the White House moved to rely on Section 122 as an alternative legal basis.
Trump framed the approach as one of several options available to the administration, saying: "We have alternatives, great alternatives." He added: "Could be more money. We’ll take in more money and we’ll be a lot stronger for it," when discussing those alternative tools.
Alongside the Section 122 order, the administration said it is initiating several Section 301 investigations into unfair trade practices by other countries and companies. The president's decision to lean on Section 122 while beginning new probes under Section 301 had been widely anticipated, officials said.
There are timing differences between the measures: the 10% tariff announced on Friday is explicitly limited to a 150-day duration under Section 122, whereas Section 301 investigations typically take months to complete. The administration noted the coexistence of the short-term tariff and the longer-running investigations as part of its response to the Supreme Court ruling.
Context and next steps
The immediate effect of the order is a temporary, across-the-board 10% tariff that supplements existing duties. The administration's concurrent initiation of Section 301 probes signals a parallel, investigatory approach that operates on a different timetable.