U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen: U.S. tariffs on 15% of global goods expected to take effect this week

On Wednesday local time, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the 15% “global import tariff” recently announced by President Trump is expected to take effect sometime this week, increasing from the current 10%.

Yellen also predicted that by August this year, U.S. tariff rates will actually revert to previous levels. That is, they will return to the higher tariffs that Trump unilaterally imposed on most countries last year before the Supreme Court recently invalidated them. “I strongly believe that the tariff rates will return to their original levels within five months.”

Last year, Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose broad tariffs on imports from most countries without congressional approval.

By February 20 this year, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Trump did not have the authority to impose those tariffs by citing IEEPA to bypass Congress.

Just hours after the ruling was announced, Trump stated that he had signed an executive order to impose a 10% uniform tariff on global goods under another law. A day later, Trump said he would raise the tariff rate to 15%, “to take effect immediately.”

However, in reality, when the tariffs were officially implemented, the rate remained at 10%.

In an interview, Yellen was asked about the discrepancy between the previously promised 15% rate and the current 10%, and whether it was clear when the rate would be increased to a higher level.

Yellen responded, “Most likely sometime this week.”

She pointed out that these alternative tariff measures are implemented under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which can last up to 150 days unless Congress approves an extension.

Yellen stated that during this period, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Department of Commerce will complete relevant trade investigations to provide legal grounds for implementing more tariffs in the future.

“I am very confident that the tariff rates will return to their original levels within five months, and these legal authorizations are quite comprehensive,” Yellen said.

“They have withstood over 4,000 legal challenges,” she added, “although progress is slow, the legal foundation is more solid.”

(Source: Caixin)