The temporary tariff was always going to expire. The question was whether Washington would let it go quietly or use the moment to double down. We now have the answer.
President Donald Trump’s administration has rolled out a new set of import duties on goods from 60 economies, effective July 24, 2026. The rates sit at either 10% or 12.5%, depending on the trading partner, and they arrived precisely as a temporary 10% global tariff expired on the same date.
How this is legally justified
The legal foundation here matters, because the administration’s earlier tariff strategy ran into serious trouble in court.
A Supreme Court ruling in February 2026 struck down the prior reciprocal tariff framework, which had been the centerpiece of Trump’s first wave of trade measures in this term. That ruling forced the White House to find a different legal hook.
