After being told by the United States Supreme Court that his decision to impose tariffs on almost every country in the world in 2025 had used a faulty legal basis, President Donald Trump responded by announcing a new 10% global tariff.
Collection of the new tariffs began on Tuesday 24 February 2026, while the collection of the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court was halted.
President Trump’s latest action relies on a 1974 Trade Act which allows the imposition of tariffs of up to 15% to address a “large and serious balance-of-payments deficit”.
Writing on his social media channel, Truth Social, he said: “It is my Great Honor to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately."
Following his latest tariff announcement, President Trump said that he would impose the 15% maximum, rather than the 10% originally stated. However, the US authorities then confirmed that, for the moment, the 10% would apply on top of the US’ most favoured nation (MFN) duties for individual products. The official document confirming the rate is available here.
When asked whether companies would be refunded the money which had been illegally collected through the tariffs that have now been annulled, a point which the Supreme Court did not address, the President said that his administration would “end up being in court for the next five years” litigating that question.
He also stated that tariffs he has imposed on various industries (including steel, aluminium and cars) remain in place despite the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The latest changes were described by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) as a further blow to businesses trying to find some stability, particularly the 40,000 UK companies exporting goods to the US.
BCC Head of Trade Policy, William Bain, said: “This means an extra 5% increase in tariffs on a wide range of UK goods exports to the US, except those covered under the Economic Prosperity Deal. This will raise the tariff cost on UK exports to the US by between £2 billion and £3 billion.”
The UK Government has said that no reciprocal action is “off the table” if the US does not honour its tariff deal with the UK.
