White House official says plan to increase global tariff to 15 pct 'in process'

▲ This photo, released by EPA, shows White House Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro speaking to the media at the White House in Washington on Sept. 19, 2025. (Yonhap)

White House official-tariff

White House official says plan to increase global tariff to 15 pct 'in process'

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, March 25 (Yonhap) -- A White House official said Wednesday that a plan to raise a new U.S. global tariff to 15 percent from 10 percent is "at least" "in process," as President Donald Trump said last month that the increase will happen.

Peter Navarro, a senior trade advisor to Trump, made the remarks during an event hosted by Politico, indicating that the Trump administration still plans to increase the duty despite concerns about the impact of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran on inflation.

"It has happened, at least it's in process to happen," he was quoted by Politico as saying. "I wouldn't get too lost in the details on that."

The Trump administration rolled out the 10 percent global tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act soon after the Supreme Court ruled against Trump's use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify country-specific "reciprocal" tariffs and other duties.

A day after the ruling, Trump said the U.S. would raise the new tariff to 15 percent.

Navarro said that although the administration lost the IEEPA tariffs, "it was the best possible outcome."

"Because the justices ratified and affirmed the use of every other statute we've been using to implement tariffs," he said.

Following the invalidation of the IEEPA duties, the Trump administration has been working on reconstructing its tariff regime through steps, including launching trade investigations under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, which might result in new country-specific tariffs.

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