Bessent says 15% this week, IEEPA levels later

President Donald Trump’s recently announced 15% global tariff will likely be implemented sometime this week, rising from its current rate of 10%, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday.

Bessent also predicted that U.S. tariff rates would, by August, effectively return to where they stood before the Supreme Court recently struck down the often-steeper duties that Trump unilaterally imposed on most of the world’s countries last year.

“It’s my strong belief that the tariff rates will be back to their old rate within five months,” Bessent said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Trump last year, without authorization by Congress, implemented a broad array of tariffs on imports from most other countries by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling on Feb. 20, said Trump did not have the legal authority to circumvent Congress by using IEEPA to impose those duties.

Hours after that ruling, Trump said he had signed an executive order to impose a global 10% tariff under a different law. A day later, Trump said he would hike that new tariff rate to 15%, “effective immediately.”

But in fact, when the tariff took effect, it only stood at 10%.

During his interview on “Squawk Box,” Bessent was asked about the discrepancy between the 15% level that Trump had promised and the current rate, and if Bessent knew when a change to the higher level would occur.

“That’s likely sometime this week,” Bessent said.

He noted that those replacement tariffs, which are being imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, can last for only 150 days unless Congress approves an extension.

During that interval, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department will complete trade-related studies that can allow them to impose more tariffs, Bessent said.

“It’s my strong belief that the tariff rates will be back to their old rate within five months, and those are very fulsome authorities,” Bessent said.

“They have survived more than 4,000 legal challenges,” he said. “They are more slow-moving, but they are more robust.”