Tariffs

The Guardian -   Donald Trump’s global tariffs face a crunch test in a federal appeals court on Thursday, just hours before the latest sweeping round of duties is set to kick in.  The full 11-strong bench of the US court of appeals for the federal circuit in Washington DC will consider whether the president exceeded his authority in imposing “reciprocal” tariffs on a large number of US trading partners.

In May a three-judge panel of the court of international trade blocked the import duties on grounds that Trump’s invocation of emergency powers under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) was unjustified. The appeals court has stayed that ruling pending the outcome of Thursday’s hearing.

NBC News - President Donald Trump has announced last-minute trade agreements with South Korea and Pakistan, just a day before his Aug. 1 tariff deadline.

The president said South Korean imports would face a 15% tariff after the country made "an offer to buy down" the 25% duty level he had previously set.

Trump said South Korea would give $350 billion "for investments owned and controlled by the United States," and $100 billion of liquefied natural gas "or other energy products." South Korean President Lee Jae-myung confirmed the agreement yesterday evening.

This morning, the United States and Pakistan said they had clinched a deal that Islamabad described as leading to lower tariffs on its exports, while Trump trumpeted a pact to help develop the South Asian nation’s oil reserves. Neither mentioned the tariff rate agreed.

The president yesterday said imports from India face a hiked tariff rate of 25%, along with an unspecified penalty for what he said was an over-reliance on Russian energy and military equipment.

U.S. tariffs on goods from Brazil will be raised from 50% to 90%, Trump said, as his administration sanctioned the judge overseeing the cases for former President Jair Bolsonaro for allegedly plotting a coup.

...As tariff rates are paid by those importing goods to the U.S., higher tariffs make it nearly certain that American households will pay higher prices for the everyday goods that are made overseas. American consumers face an effective tariff rate of 18.2%, the highest since 1934, translating to a loss of as much as $2,400 per household in 2025, according to the Yale University Budget Lab.

Trump's tariff plan is headed to court today, where a panel of 11 judges in New York will hear arguments from the administration, as well as two small businesses that say many of his import duties are illegal. The businesses argue that Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 was illegal and that he has "no authority to issue across-the-board worldwide tariffs without congressional approval." All of Trump's tariffs on major trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, and several other countries, have been deployed using the law.