The Donald Trump administration has signaled that it may reimpose the currently enforced "global 10% tariff" even after its legal expiration date.
According to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday (local time), US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said at a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) event that "if you look at the statutory text, it states when the tariffs expire but does not specify when they can be reimposed," hinting at the possibility of reinstatement.
President Trump has been enforcing the "global 10% universal tariff" based on Section 122 of the Trade Act after the federal Supreme Court ruled in February that imposing reciprocal tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) was unlawful. The tariff imposition period under this provision is capped at 150 days and is set to expire in late July. Greer's remarks indicated that the administration could reimpose the tariffs using the same legal basis. He stopped short, however, of providing specifics on whether the government would actually pursue an extension.
He also explained that the administration is focusing on establishing a new tariff framework to replace the global 10% universal tariff. He had previously stated that such replacement tariffs would be imposed in July under Section 301 of the Trade Act.
Separately, Greer added that he would soon gather input from businesses regarding the "Trade Committee," a consultative body for discussing tariff reductions and other matters with China. The United States and China had previously agreed to discuss the removal of tariffs worth $30 billion (about 45 trillion won) each on a goods-price basis.
