Reaction to US Supreme Court ruling and Trump's new tariff threat

Feb 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he will raise a temporary tariff on U.S. imports from all countries to 15% from 10%, following a Supreme Court decision striking down a large swath of his tariffs. The new levies are grounded in a separate but untested law, known as Section 122.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said none of the countries that have reached trade deals with the U.S. had shared plans to withdraw following the Supreme Court ruling.

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Here are some reactions:

CHINESE COMMERCE MINISTRY

China is making a “full assessment” of the U.S. Supreme Court’s tariff ruling and urged Washington to lift “relevant unilateral tariff measures” on its trading partners, the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“U.S. unilateral tariffs … violate international trade rules and U.S. domestic law, and are not in the interests of any party,” the Chinese ministry added. “China will continue to pay close attention to this and firmly safeguard its interests.”

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

The European Commission demanded the United States stick to the terms of an EU-U.S. trade deal reached last year.

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“The current situation is not conducive to delivering ‘fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial’ transatlantic trade and investment, as agreed to by both sides” in the joint statement setting out the terms of last year’s trade agreement, the Commission said. “A deal is a deal.”

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Sunday the upheaval in U.S. trade policy could again disrupt business and hoped any new tariff plans were “sufficiently thought through” that businesses know what to expect.

“To sort of shake it up again is going to bring about disruptions,” Lagarde said on CBS’ “Face the Nation”.

People “want to do business. They don’t want to go into…lawsuits. So I hope it’s going to be clarified, and it’s going to be sufficiently thought through so that we don’t have, again, more challenges, and the proposals will be in compliance with the (U.S.) Constitution.”

SWITZERLAND’S STATE SECRETARIAT FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Switzerland should prepare for the likelihood that U.S. tariffs will remain in place permanently, Helene Budliger Artieda, head of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, told Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick.

“I suspect we will have to come to terms with U.S. tariffs. It is clear that the U.S. administration remains committed to its trade policy goals: reducing the U.S. trade deficit, achieving greater reciprocity in international trade, and bringing production back to the United States.”

Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

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• Finance
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