New global tariffs wanted by Trump have come into force
Announced in the wake of the snub inflicted on Donald Trump by the Supreme Court on Friday, the new global customs duties of 10% wanted by the American president, who threatened to increase them to 15%, came into force on Tuesday.
This new surcharge, the decree of which was signed on Friday, aims to replace the general customs duties existing until now as well as those provided for by the various trade agreements signed since their entry into force with most of the United States' major partners.
It does not replace, however, so-called sectoral customs duties, ranging from 10% to 50% on certain sectors of activity, such as copper, automobiles or construction timber, not affected by Friday's decision.
It also does not apply to Canadian and Mexican products imported into the United States under the North American Free Trade Treaty (CUSMA).
The customs services stopped collecting customs duties reclaimed by the Supreme Court at midnight, while the new surcharge came into force.
For these taxes, the American president took as a legal basis a 1974 law allowing him to rebalance trade between the United States and its economic partners as soon as a marked imbalance in the current account balance is demonstrated.
This balance brings together all financial movements between two countries, i.e. trade but also financial flows or cross-investments.
These tariffs are expected to lower the average effective rate applied to products entering the United States to 13.7%, compared to 16% before the Supreme Court decision, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.
After 150 days, however, the government will have to obtain a vote from Congress if it wants to maintain these customs duties over time.
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The tariffs challenged by the Supreme Court were based on a 1977 text (the IEEPA) authorizing the executive to act in the economic field without a green light from Congress in the event of an "economic emergency", which has not been demonstrated, according to the magistrates.
The decision also leads to the cancellation of surcharges imposed in retaliation, such as those against India for the purchase of Russian oil or Brazil for the trial of its ex-president, and ally of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonero.
This is also the case with customs duties threatening countries that have exported oil to Cuba, while the United States is trying to economically suffocate the island to push the government to accept an agreement.
This decision paves the way for possible reimbursements of surcharges already paid by companies. The package delivery group FedEx filed a complaint against the government on Monday.
By announcing all-out customs duties in April, Donald Trump claimed to want to rebalance trade and recover resources for the federal budget in order to compensate for the tax cuts decided by his administration.
These surcharges had served as a basis for negotiation for the signing of trade agreements with Washington's main partners.
