US to stop collecting Trump tariffs ruled illegal by supreme court

Donald Trump’s administration has said it will stop collecting tariffs the Supreme Court ruled were illegal as they were imposed using emergency powers, as investors attempted to digest the US president’s latest volley of replacement levies.The US dollar slumped 0.4% against a basket of other currencies on Monday after the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said it would deactivate all tariff codes associated with International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) related orders as of Tuesday at midnight (5am UK time).Gold jumped 0.6% to $5,135 an ounce, its highest level since the end of January, as investors flocked to the safe haven asset, while bitcoin dropped as much as 4.8% to $64,300 before recovering some ground, at $65,734. Futures tracking the US S&P 500 stock market slipped 0.5% on Monday morning.The Supreme Court ruled last week that Trump had overstepped his legal authority to impose his “liberation day” measures last year, plunging financial markets into a new phase of uncertainty over where US trade policy will land.Trump retaliated over the weekend with a new flat-rate global tariff of 15% under a separate legal authority to replace the tariffs that had been struck down. The new levies will come into force on Tuesday and could last for up to 150 days under separate powers.“Announcements since the Supreme Court’s ruling strongly confirm that Trump has no intention of removing his ‘most beautiful word’ from the English dictionary,” wrote ING economists.“Uncertainty is back, and given the latest muscle-flexing by European leaders, the risk of escalation is now higher than it was a year ago.”The CBP told shippers on Monday morning that it would stop collecting tariffs under the emergency powers act as of 12:01am on Tuesday, more than three days after the Supreme Court declared them illegal.The update, sent via its Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS), coincides with Trump imposing the updated import tax under a different legal authority. It gave no new information about possible refunds for importers.That is despite the Supreme Court’s decision making more than $175bn (£130bn) in previous US Treasury revenue subject to potential refunds, based on an estimate by Penn Wharton Budget Model economists.“CBP will provide additional guidance to the trade community through CSMS messages as appropriate,” the agency said.US officials hurriedly tried to reassure other countries on Sunday that their recent trade deals with the the country were still intact.“We want them to understand these deals are going to be good deals, said the US trade representative Jamieson Greer last night, speaking to CBS. “We’re going to stand by them. We expect our partners to stand by them.”The statement indicated that Trump’s deal with Keir Starmer, announced last May, will continue to stand, rather than the UK’s tariff rising from 10% to 15%. But Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, admitted on Sunday that UK businesses faced “uncertainty” after the latest developments.The FTSE 100, which has hit a succession of record highs in recent months, fell 0.2% in early trading on Monday.Susannah Streeter, the chief investment strategist at the investment company Wealth Club, said: “The rip-roaring performance of the Footsie has been interrupted as fresh trade chaos mars the party.“The exuberance that flashed over global markets after the US Supreme Court rejected Trump’s tariffs as unconstitutional is evaporating.”On Monday, China’s commerce ministry called on Washington to lift the tariffs and said it was conducting a “comprehensive assessment” of the impact of the court ruling. “There are no winners in a trade war and that protectionism leads nowhere,” it added.