Trump Declares Tariffs Are Like Thermostats: Up, Up, and Up Again

KEY POINTS

•President Trump announced on Saturday he will increase the worldwide tariff to 15% using new legal authority.
•The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Friday that Trump lacked the power to impose tariffs under IEEPA.
•White House officials said tariffs under the struck-down authority will switch to a temporary 10% rate using Section 122.

In a surprising case of legislative dodgeball, Donald Trump is doubling down on tariffs like a grumpy thermostat cranking from 10% to 15% worldwide—despite the Supreme Court giving his International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) authority a solid thumbs-down in a 6-3 ruling on Friday. Not one to be easily deflated, Trump announced via Truth Social on Saturday that this tariff hike is ‘effective immediately,’ targeting countries ‘ripping the U.S. off for decades.’ Since the court ruling rendered his original powers null, the administration is pivoting to Section 122— a 150-day magic fix after which they’ll beg Congress, hopefully before the tariff wizard hat needs re-tweaking. Meanwhile, White House officials confessed to swapping struck-down IEEPA tariffs for the still-temporary 10%, aiming eventually at a grand, legal tariff extravaganza. All this occurred against the backdrop of a government shutdown the House just refused to end, like a soporific soap opera with less budget and twice the stubbornness.