Tariffs imposed on products entering the United States should rise “at some point this week” to 15%, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Wednesday in an interview with CNBC.
“It is probably at some point this week,” replied Mr. Bessent, when asked about this, adding that he hoped that “customs duties will return to their previous rate within five months”.
Following the cancellation by the Supreme Court of a large part of the customs duties that he had introduced since his return to the White House, Donald Trump reinstated a customs surcharge of 10%, which is however only valid for 150 days, before requiring a vote in Congress to be made permanent.
Thanks to its free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico, Canada is not affected by these customs tariffs.
An appeals court ruled in August that part of the customs duties imposed by Donald Trump were illegal, an opinion followed in February by the high court, which ruled that the American president had exceeded his prerogatives by imposing generalized customs duties on various countries.
This decision does not concern sectoral customs duties imposed by Mr. Trump, notably on steel and automobiles.
In response, Donald Trump has already invoked another legal basis to introduce a new customs duty of 10% on imports into the United States. The next day, he announced his intention to increase it to 15% but this has not yet materialized.
The president has repeatedly attacked the Supreme Court’s decision, saying it would allow foreign countries and companies to continue to “rob” the United States.
