The United States is raising its global tariff rate to 15% this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday. The rate increase comes as the Trump administration scrambles to rebuild the punishing tariff regime that was restricted by the Supreme Court two weeks ago.
In an interview with CNBC, Bessent said the increase in the global tariff rate from the current 10% to 15% would help reestablish an overall tariff structure similar to the one in place before the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs on trading partners around the world required authorization from Congress.
"It's my strong belief that the tariff rates will be back to their old rate within five months," Bessent said.
The replacement tariffs are being imposed under a different legal authority, Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Those come with a 150-day limit, however, at which point Congress would need to approve them.
Bessent said that during the next 150 days, the administration will work to impose tariffs under a different set of legal authorities. Those authorities have survived "more than 4,000 legal challenges," Bessent said. "They are more slow moving, but they are more robust."