US tariff policy 'hasn't changed', says Trump's trade representative

Getty ImagesDonald Trump's tariff policy "hasn't changed", the US president's trade representative has insisted, despite the Supreme Court moving on Friday to strike down a legal justification used by Trump to impose many such tariffs."The legal tool to implement it – that might change, but the policy hasn't changed," said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in an interview with ABC News on Sunday.Tariffs are taxes on imported goods. The tax is paid to the government by the companies that bring in the foreign products.The Supreme Court ruled that Trump had overstepped his powers with his use of one specific tool to enact a sweeping global programme of tariffs last April.The ruling only applied to Trump's invocation of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which accounted for the bulk of the tariffs that he has imposed during his second term in the White House. Meanwhile, a complex patchwork system of more specific tariffs – which target American imports of certain goods, or imports from certain countries – remains in place. Some other products are exempt.The US president responded to the Supreme Court's ruling by immediately using a different piece of legislation to announce a new tariff rate of 10% on imports of goods from all countries. On Saturday, he raised this to a rate of 15%. The new rate will become effective from Tuesday.Greer said this plan would be "roughly equivalent to the types of tariffs that we have in place under IEEPA".The legislation now used by Trump can only apply for 150 days, after which Congress must be consulted for an extension. Meanwhile, his administration is also examining other legal mechanisms by which it could raise further tariffs – a fact that was highlighted by Green in his comments to ABC."We found ways to really reconstruct what we're doing," Greer explained. "Now, it doesn't have the same flexibility that the president had under the previous authority that he was using, but he gives us very durable tools."The US president has long argued that tariffs will boost domestic manufacturing and create jobs, and has also used them to pursue a variety of other political ends.He has also sought to justify his policy as a matter of national security. He has said there is an "extraordinary and unusual threat" posed to the US by its trade deficit – a phenomenon under which the US imports more goods than it exports.But critics have warned that tariffs result in higher prices for consumers and damage to the global economy.Analysis published earlier this month by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that 90% of the cost of increased tariffs that Trump imposed on goods from Mexico, China, Canada and the European Union (EU), was paid for by US companies.How will Trump's new global tariffs work and what's next?What now for Asia after Trump's tariffs struck down?Friday's Supreme Court ruling has caused uncertainty in the various countries that negotiated individual deals with the US after after the IEEPA tariffs were announced last April. On Friday, the White House said these countries would face the new blanket global tariff rate – which was then 10%, before being raised by Trump to 15% the next day. The Trump administration expects those countries to keep abiding by the concessions they had agreed under the trade deals, the official added."We're going to stand by them. We expect our partners to stand by them," Greer said of the deals in a separate interview on Sunday, with CBS News. Among the countries affected are the UK – which had negotiated a tariff rate of 10% on most goods, but now appears to face a 15% rate in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.The UK government has said it expects Britain's "privileged trading position with the US" to continue.Individual businesses around the world have repeatedly complained about the uncertainty caused by an ever-changing tariffs regime. Fraser Smeaton, the co-founder of a UK costumes company which exports around 60% of its products to the US, told the BBC it had been a rollercoaster year, capped by more turmoil since the court ruling.On the day that Trump announced the IEEPA tariffs last April, the tariffs on his products went from zero to 30%, Smeaton told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Afterwards, they went up to 100%, then 145%, and eventually a rate of 30% was paid. This later changed to 20% and, for a few hours on Friday after the ruling, it was zero again, then up to 10%, and on Saturday, 15%."We've had an awful lot of upheaval and uncertainty that we've had to deal with."Watch: BBC inside Trump press briefing slamming Supreme Court tariffs rulingFor his part, Trump branded Friday's Supreme Court ruling "ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American".Another question that hangs over the issue is whether or not consumers and businesses will be able to claim refunds for the estimated $130bn (£96bn) that they have paid as a result of Trump's IEEPA tariffs. Trump himself has previously warned of the potential complexities around the issue.While the Supreme Court's ruling determined that these particular tariffs were not legal, it did not offer guidance on returning any money.Another key Trump official, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, highlighted that fact in an interview of his own with CBS on Sunday. He said he expected the issue to be heard by a lower court.Bessent echoed Greer in saying that the Trump administration would successfully navigate the Supreme Court ruling, saying: "Tariff revenue will be unchanged this year and will be unchanged in the future."Tariffs ruling is major blow to Trump's second-term agendaThe uncertainties facing businesses and consumers after Trump's tariff changesWhat tariffs has Trump introduced and why?Donald TrumpUnited StatesTrade