Kamal Ghorui
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said that President Donald Trump‘s plan to increase a 10% universal tariff up to 15% will likely be done this week. “That’s likely sometime this week,” Bessent said on CNBC in response to a question about when the increase to 15% would be implemented.Trump last month put a 10% universal levy in place after the Supreme Court invalidated most of his previous tariff regime. Bessent noted the authority for the new duties only allows for the measure to last 150 days. During that time, he said that US trade authorities will be looking at using other legislation to resurrect the tariff regime that had been in place prior to the high court’s ruling.“It’s my strong belief that the tariff rates will back to their old rate within five months,” Bessent said. “They are very slow moving, but they are more robust,” he said of the so-called sections 301 and 232 tariffs that are planned to replace the invalidated IEEPA duties.
US stock futures erased gains after Bessent’s comment on the higher tariff. Contracts on the S& were down about 0.1% in New York after being up as much as 0.4% earlier in the session. The Treasury chief also played down the risk to the oil market from the US and Israeli war against Iran, saying that there’s ample global supply and that the Trump administration will be taking steps to support the sector.“I would encourage everyone to look through the noise and see where we are going on the other side of this in terms of the crude markets – the crude markets are very well supplied,” Bessent said. “There are hundreds of millions of barrels on the water away from the Gulf. But more importantly, we have a series of announcements that we’re going to be making.”He pointed to the previously announced plan for the US government to offer insurance for oil cargo ships when appropriate, and for the US Navy to provide safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Bessent highlighted China’s vulnerability to any cutoff of oil shipments from the Persian Gulf, saying more than 50% of their energy comes from that region. “They’ve probably been buying 95% of the Iranian crude. That’s obviously on hold right now.” Asked about Trump’s comment on Tuesday suggesting a trade embargo with Spain, and whether the Treasury chief would be responsible for that, Bessent said, “It would be a combination effort.” He didn’t specifically comment on whether such a sanction will be enacted.EU hopes 10% levy will stayMeanwhile, European Union expects that the US won’t increase its tariff on the bloc to 15%. The EU received assurances according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Spokespeople for the US Trade Representative and the European Commission, which handles trade matters for the EU, declined to comment on the matter.
