US President Donald Trump raised the global duty on imports into the United States to 15 percent on Saturday, doubling down on his promise to maintain his aggressive tariff policy a day after the Supreme Court ruled much of it illegal.

Shortly after the court's 6-3 ruling that rejected the president's authority to impose tariffs under a 1977 economic emergency powers act, Trump had initially announced a new 10 percent global levy by invoking a different legal avenue.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that after a thorough review of Friday's "extraordinarily anti-American decision" by the court to rein in his tariff programme, the administration was hiking the import levies "to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15 percent level."

The new duty by law is only temporary – allowable for 150 days.

According to a White House fact sheet, exemptions remain for sectors that are under separate probes, including pharma, and goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.

On Friday, the White House said US trading partners that reached separate tariff deals with Trump's administration would also face the new global tariff.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday he would hold talks with European allies to formulate "a very clear European position" and joint response to Washington before he travels to the US capital in early March. (AFP)


Edited by Tony Sabine