Trump Imposes 10% Global Tariff After Court Rejects Previous Trade Policy

President Donald Trump’s new 10% tariff on all goods imported into the United States took effect Tuesday, as the White House moves to sustain the president’s trade agenda.

The move follows a Supreme Court ruling that struck down the administration's previous broad tariffs. According to Bloomberg, the White House is using the new measures to protect its core trade policies following the legal setback.

Trump signed the executive order authorizing the 10% import tax last Friday. The signing occurred just hours after the court issued its ruling.

President Trump’s swift move to impose a 10% universal baseline tariff via executive order underscores a defiant commitment to his "America First" trade agenda. While recent Supreme Court rulings have challenged the administration’s procedural methodology, they have done little to dampen its policy objectives. By pivoting to alternative legal authorities, the White House is signaling to both domestic critics and international partners that judicial hurdles will not derail its protectionist stance.

For global trade partners, the shift to a uniform 10% levy represents a departure from the targeted, sector-specific duties of Trump’s first term, introducing a new era of systemic volatility. The impact will be particularly pronounced for Vietnam, which has solidified its position as a primary exporter to the U.S. market. Critical manufacturing sectors—most notably textiles, furniture, and electronics—now face a steep climb in landed costs, directly eroding their competitive edge.

Vietnamese firms are facing a high-stakes dilemma: absorb the tariff costs and accept thinner profit margins, or pass the burden to American consumers and risk losing market share to domestic producers. Beyond the immediate price shocks, the broader climate of American trade unpredictability threatens to cool the foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows that have fueled Vietnam’s industrial rise. For a country that has benefited immensely from the diversification of global supply chains, Washington’s new protectionist turn signals a period of significant economic cooling.

A 10% tariff would directly impact Vietnamese-American small businesses, particularly those that import products from Vietnam. From grocery stores and food distributors to furniture and handicraft retailers in Little Saigon neighborhoods, business owners would face a significant spike in procurement costs. This would likely force these businesses to either raise their prices—making it harder to compete with major retail chains—or absorb the costs themselves, leading to much thinner profit margins.