On Wednesday, representatives of the Donald Trump government downplayed the possibility of a 15% global tariff coming into effect in a general way and conditioned it on the progress of bilateral trade agreements and other decisions by country, meaning only the temporary 10% rates that took effect yesterday will remain. The White House's chief economist, Kevin Hassett, assured the press today that the 15% tariff hike announced by Trump over the weekend is 'still being discussed and will depend on the status of negotiations and existing agreements'. The United States Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, told Bloomberg News in an interview that Trump will sign a decree in the coming days to raise the new 10% rate, applied in response to the Supreme Court's rejection of 'reciprocal' tariffs, to 15% 'where appropriate'. Greer said the goal will be to ensure 'continuity' in the bilateral agreements reached with countries or blocs like the European Union following the announcement of global tariffs in April, for which the Administration used a 1977 economic emergency law, whose use the Supreme Court invalidated last Friday for usurping Congress's powers. Trump's immediate response was to invoke the powers of a 1974 trade law to declare global 10% tariffs for 150 days. Shortly after, Trump said the percentage would rise to 15%. However, the order that took effect at midnight on Tuesday only provided for the 10% increase, while the White House has assured they are working on a decree to formalize the 15% one. All this has generated great confusion about the direction of U.S. tariff policy, especially in those countries that had already agreed to lower their tariffs in talks with Washington. The European Parliament, for example, is delaying the vote to ratify the trade agreement reached with the Trump administration amid confusion about what will happen if the global tariffs under the 1974 law cease to exist in 150 days. Hassett assured today that Trump's tariff hikes, a cornerstone of his economic and foreign policy, will in no way fall to zero and that they have different legal frameworks for the Executive Branch to impose its tariff plans excluding the Legislature.
