U.S. President Trump previously relied on Article 122 of the Trade Act, and after his "reciprocal tariffs" were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, he quickly activated a new global import tariff, taxing all imported goods at a flat rate of 10%. The validity period can be up to 150 days, unless Congress decides to extend it. However, less than 24 hours later, Trump took advantage of the upper limit allowed by this provision to directly increase the tax rate to 15% to seize more room for pressure.
According to reports, Trump announced in a post on the social platform Truth Social that this adjustment "takes immediate effect", which means that the originally planned 10% global import tariff will be replaced by a top tax rate of 15%. He also said that the government will promote a new tariff plan that is "compliant with legal requirements" in the next "just a few months", aiming to rebuild previously overturned tariff barriers through a more solid legal path.
Trump's move is considered a direct response to the Supreme Court's decision. Previously, the Supreme Court ruled that his wide-ranging "reciprocal tariff" plan was illegal and halted the billions of dollars in additional costs for companies such as Apple. In a new round of operations, Trump is trying to achieve economic effects similar to the old tariff plan through Article 122 of the Trade Act, which is a relatively more legal channel, while making it more difficult for it to be overturned at the judicial level. He claimed in the post that the tax increase was the result of a "comprehensive, detailed and complete review" of the Supreme Court's "ridiculous, clumsy and deeply anti-American" ruling.
However, it is unclear whether the new 15% tax rate will follow the original effective time of the previous 10% plan. According to previous arrangements, the 10% global import tariff will be officially implemented at 0:01 a.m. (Eastern Time) next Tuesday. However, after the latest statement, the official has not given a clear explanation as to whether the 15% version will be launched according to the same timetable.
For Apple, this tax rate increase undoubtedly increases the pressure. At the 10% tariff level, the amount of tariffs Apple is expected to bear in February 2026 is approximately four times that of February 2025. Now that the tax rate has been raised to 15%, it means that Apple's tariff burden will increase to approximately six times the original level, and the financial pressure will significantly escalate.
Nonetheless, since this global import tariff must adopt a uniform tax rate and must not be treated differently by country, there is still a certain limit to its direct impact on Apple's supply chain. Due to rule restrictions, the U.S. government cannot independently increase tariff rates on specific countries under this framework, such as major production bases such as China, India or Vietnam, on which Apple is highly dependent. In absolute terms, the 15% tax rate is far lower than the previous tariff level of 145% that was once targeted at China, but it still constitutes another import tax burden that Apple must face.
In the United States, the controversy surrounding the legality and economic impact of this global tariff measure continues. In the next few months, this policy may encounter a new round of challenges in Congress and the judicial system, and may also become another focus of the Trump administration’s game with the business community and trading partners.