Donald Trump announced a 15% global tariff on Saturday following a US Supreme Court verdict that deemed his sweeping reciprocal levies illegal. The President had signed a proclamation soon after the verdict to “impose a temporary surcharge” of 10% for “all articles” imported to the country in the next 150 days. Hours later the POTUS said he was raising this figure with immediate effect. The changes will add up to an average tariff of nearly 18.5% for India — marginally higher than the 18% announced in the interim trade deal.
The US Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Friday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) invoked by Trump did not give him authority to tax imports — a power that belongs to Congress. The order passed in April 2025 had consolidated tariffs into a single number for each country and applied to a majority of import items. For India, it had affected roughly 55% of exports to the US while other items (such as steel) faced taxation under different laws.
The India-US interim trade deal announced on February 6 had also relied on the IEEPA as it announced an 18% tariff and other measures. It is pertinent to note here that the SCOTUS verdict has removed the legal foundation for multiple trade deals struck by the Trump administration (including the agreement with India) — leaving the US scrambling to fill gaps using alternate laws. The President argues that the terms of his trade deals apply even if the law has changed.
“Nothing changes. They’ll be paying tariffs and we will not be paying tariffs…PM Modi is a great man. He was much smarter than the people he was against. In terms of the US, he was ripping us off. So we made a deal with India, it’s a fair deal now. We are not paying tariffs to them, and they are. We did a little flip,” he insisted soon after the verdict.
What does the SCOTUS verdict mean for tariff rates?
The US Supreme Court verdict has essentially reset tariff levels (for many items) to pre-Trump levels. Levies announced separately on items such as steel, aluminum, copper and auto parts remain unchanged because they do not come under the scrapped IEEPA order. India therefore faced only the earlier Most Favoured Nation (or MFN) level of 3.4% tariff immediately after the court decision — at least in theory. This figure is a weighted average of everything India sells to the United States since MFN can vary widely by item.
Trump announces 10% and then 15% tariffs
“It is my great honor to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a global 10% tariff on all countries, which will be effective almost immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote on Truth Social hours after the verdict.
White House officials told the media on Saturday afternoon that all countries will trade agreements will now ‘reset’ to the newly announced 10% tariff rate — reportedly coming into effect from February 24. The decision was updated within a matter of hours as Trump raised his tariffs to 15% with immediate effect via a Truth Social announcement. No formal notice has been issued yet and it remains unclear when this revised figure will be implemented. The administration has repeatedly insisted that it will soon “determine and issue the new and legally permissible tariffs” to replace this interim figure.
“The Court did not rule against President Trump’s tariffs. Six justices simply ruled that IEEPA authorities cannot be used to raise even $1 of revenue. This administration will invoke alternative legal authorities to replace the IEEPA tariffs. We will be leveraging Section 232 and Section 301 tariff authorities that have been validated through thousands of legal challenges,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The White House had also shared the details on its website after making 10% announcement on Saturday — calling his proclamation a “temporary import surcharge to address fundamental international payments problems”. A surcharge by definition stacks on top of existing fees and baseline duties rather than being a flat, all-inclusive rate. This implies that the 15% tariff announced by Trump will be above and beyond the long-standing levies on Indian goods exported to the US. The 18.5% figure is derived by combining Trump’s newly announced 15% tariff with the 3.5% MFN weighted average.
The White House had earlier clarified that the surcharge will not stack on top of Section 232 tariffs on items such as aluminium and steel.
“The surcharge imposed in this proclamation shall not apply in addition to tariffs imposed under section 232. To the extent a tariff imposed under section 232 applies to part of an import, the surcharge imposed in this proclamation shall apply to the part of the import to which section 232 tariffs do not apply but shall not apply to the part of the import to which section 232 tariffs do apply,” the Trump proclamation added.
India tariffs now higher than trade deal?
The 18.5% tariff is also marginally higher than the 18% outlined in early February 2026. The ‘interim’ India-US trade deal was announced through a joint statement and final negotiations remain underway for legal formalisation. This document had used the IEEPA as its foundation.
“The United States will apply a reciprocal tariff rate of 18 percent under Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025 (Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices That Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits), as amended, on originating goods of India…” read an excerpt from the joint statement.
While it does not mention IEEPA by name, Executive Order 14257 was formulated using this law and a few other components. The recent Supreme Court verdict has therefore thrown the legal foundation of many Trump trade deals (including the India agreement) into confusion.
India ‘closely studying’ situation
The situation remains rather uncertain at present — with tariff figures having changed three times in the span of three days. Varying claims from the President and his team have also added to the confusion with no definitive answers available following the 15% announcement on Saturday.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has said that New Delhi will review the details of the 6-3 verdict before issuing any official response. The Commerce Ministry also issued a statement adding that it was “studying all these developments for their implications”. Sources also told Hindustan Times that both India and the US remained committed to a “mutually beneficial” interim trade deal in the spirit of the India-US joint statement despite the changed circumstances.
“We have noted the US Supreme Court judgment on tariffs yesterday. President Trump has also addressed a press conference in that regard. Some steps have been announced by the US Administration. We are studying all these developments for their implications,” the commerce ministry said in an official statement.