Trump is threatening 15% global tariffs. But that's already on shaky grounds

President Donald Trump is in the midst of reassembling the tariff apparatus he has long argued is critical to ensuring national prosperity, saying his latest move to enact import taxes on most countries of the world is on sturdier legal footing.

Yet many trade analysts and economists argue that isn't the case. Instead, they say drawn-out court challenges are likely given the conflicting aims of the White House. It casts further uncertainty on the U.S. economy's trajectory going into the rest of 2026.

Only hours after Friday's blockbuster Supreme Court ruling that knocked down many of his global tariffs, Trump announced he was relying on other authorities to replicate them. However, they often require time-consuming federal investigations.

Notably, he tapped a little-known provision known as Section 122 to institute a 10% across-the-board tariff, which will remain in place for six months unless Congress extends it.

He dialed it up to the maximum 15% rate allowed a day later and called them "new and legally permissible Tariffs," even as Section 122 — part of the 1974 Trade Act — has never been applied in such a sweeping fashion. It's a lever meant to address a "balance of payments" emergency in which cash flows out of the U.S. at a destabilizing pace.

During Supreme Court arguments in November, the Department of Justice argued in its brief that Section 122 had no "obvious application" in reducing the trade deficit, long a chief goal for the president. In essence, Trump is building a case to use an executive authority that his administration first brushed aside in the Supreme Court.

"His DOJ, in our case, filed briefs to the courts that said Section 122 is inapplicable and the president can't use it," Neal Katyal, the lead attorney representing the plaintiffs at the high court, told MSNOW. "So now he's turned around and he's gonna have to somehow argue against his own DOJ's interpretation of the statute. I think that's tough."

Foreign governments are reconsidering their trade deals with Trump. The European Union on Monday hit pause on a trade accord that it reached with the White House last year, which had never been finalized. The accord would have implemented 15% tariffs on many E.U. exports to the U.S., with some notable exceptions for aircraft and autos. E.U. lawmakers said they wanted more clarity on whether the tariffs they agreed to pay were legal.

Trump later threatened to ratchet up the 15% tariffs on foreign governments who might feel emboldened to renegotiate their trade deals — even though he has already reached the ceiling under current legal authority.

"Any Country that wants to 'play games' with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have “Ripped Off” the U.S.A. for years... will be met with a much higher Tariff," Trump said in a Monday morning social media post.