The Daily Populous Sunday February 22nd, 2026 night edition
Authored by independent.co.uk and submitted by theindependentonline

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President Donald Trump vowed Saturday to raise worldwide tariffs to 15 percent “effective immediately,” in a Truth Social post.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, ushered in under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, were unlawfully imposed. The president had used the act to charge huge levies on countries, including 50 percent on India, which was later reduced, and 34 percent on China.

Speaking from the White House briefing room after the ruling Friday, a seething Trump called the 6-3 Supreme Court decision “deeply disappointing” and said he was “absolutely ashamed” of the Republican appointees on the court who’d failed to back his signature policy.

By Friday night, the president posted on Truth Social that he signed an executive order enabling him to bypass Congress and impose a 10 percent tax on imports from around the world. “It is my Great Honor to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately,” Trump wrote.

Less than 24 hours later, Trump said he was bumping up the tariffs to 15 percent “based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday.”

open image in gallery President Donald Trump, pictured Friday, vowed to raise worldwide tariffs to 15 percent, up from 10 percent, ‘effective immediately’ ( AFP/Getty )

“Please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been “ripping” the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.

“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again - GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!!!” the president wrote on his social media platform.

The White House shared the president’s latest Truth Social on 15 percent tariffs to its official X account Saturday.

Trump also hailed conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh his “new hero” after he sided with the president, as did Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

“My new hero is United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and, of course, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito,” Trump said in another Truth Social post. “There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The 15 percent import tariffs have caused further confusion for America’s trading partners, including the U.K.

Will Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said the tariffs are “bad for trade, bad for U.S. consumers and businesses.”

“Businesses on both sides of the Atlantic need a period of clarity and certainty,” Bain said. “Higher tariffs are not the way to achieve that.”

A spokesperson for the U.K. government said it would continue to support businesses as more details were announced.

“Under any scenario, we expect our privileged trading position with the U.S. to continue and will work with the administration to understand how the ruling will affect tariffs for the U.K. and the rest of the world,” the spokesperson said.

open image in gallery The Supreme Court ruling is a blow to Trump, who used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to charge huge levies on countries, including 50 percent on India, which was later reduced, and 34 percent on China ( Getty Images )

Democrats, meanwhile, blasted Trump for bumping the tariff up to 15 percent, characterizing it as a “tax on the American people.”

“Donald Trump just announced a NEW 15% TAX on the American people,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post on X. “He does not care about you.”

“When someone illegally takes your money, that’s called stealing,” added Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “Donald Trump stole your money with his illegal tariffs — and you paid higher prices on everything from housing to groceries. It’s time for Trump to pay up and give back your money.”

Rep. Ted Lieu of California called the president a “crybaby” and quipped that Trump “woke up this morning and still feels hurt” from the Supreme Court defeat.

“So he’s taking it out on the American people by increasing his 10% tax increase to 15%,” said Lieu. “These temporary tariffs will be challenged in court and Democrats will kill them when they expire.”

After the court’s decision, Trump announced he would instead use the 1974 Trade Act to continue his tariff agenda. But the Trade Act only allows a maximum tariff of 15 percent and comes with a limit of 150 days, unless Congress votes to extend it.

“The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope. In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a 6-3 decision Friday.

Conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, both appointed by Trump, joined Roberts as well as liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson in ruling against the president.

Trump and his aides had expected a negative ruling in the case for months and have been preparing other authorities for taxing imports — which, like tariffs, are ultimately shouldered by consumers. But those other avenues are far more limited than the broad powers Trump had asserted for himself.

The president has also threatened to invoke Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act to impose as much as a 50 percent tax on imports from countries that discriminate against American products. That portion of the U.S. Code has its roots in the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff enacted during the Great Depression — with the effect of worsening the economic devastation caused by the stock market crash a year earlier — and has never been used by a president in the modern era.

The ruling does not impact all of Trump’s tariffs, just those brought under the 1970s law. That includes “reciprocal” tariffs on other countries since he announced that policy during an April event on what he’d dubbed “Liberation Day” as well as tariffs specifically imposed on Canada, China and Mexico to stop the flow of fentanyl.

Tariffs imposed on specific sectors, such as aluminum or steel — some of which date back to his first term —can remain in place.

Ariana Baio and Andrew Feinberg contributed to this report

HalfInchHollow on February 21st, 2026 at 17:36 UTC »

Currently visiting Canada. Every single TV station is just calling out Trump and what an incompetent moron he is, making illegal actions.

It’s refreshing to see the news actually report the news.

malkuth74 on February 21st, 2026 at 16:52 UTC »

MAGA you will forever be seen as the dumbest fucks on planet, even dumber than flat earthers for giving us this stupid shit.

Dr_Retch on February 21st, 2026 at 16:32 UTC »

Call it what it is ... a national sales tax.