The Taoiseach Micheal Martin is said to be extremely concerned with developments Stateside this afternoon.
US President Donald Trump has announced that he will increase the temporary global tariff rate on imported products to 15% after the US Supreme Court ruled against the duties he introduced under an economic emergency statute, reports RTE.
In a message posted on Truth Social, President Trump described the court’s ruling as “ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American”, reports RTE.
Mr Trump confirmed that the 15% tariff rate would take effect straight away.
He stated that numerous countries had been “ripping” the US off for “decades, without retribution”, and said he was raising the import taxes “to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level”, reports RTE.
“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs,” he said.
Under the law, the new levy is temporary and can only remain in place for 150 days, reports RTE.
A White House fact sheet said that exemptions would continue for sectors subject to separate investigations, such as pharmaceuticals, as well as goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.
The development follows calls from several US Democrats urging Mr Trump to provide refunds after the Supreme Court’s decision, reports RTE.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker sent Mr Trump an invoice seeking close to $9 billion in tariff reimbursements for households in his state.
Mr Pritzker called on the White House to “cut” the cheque after the justices ruled 6-3 that Mr Trump had overstepped his authority by using emergency powers to impose tariffs that altered global trade and increased domestic prices, reports RTE.
“Your tariff taxes wreaked havoc on farmers, enraged our allies and sent grocery prices through the roof,” Mr Pritzker wrote, warning further legal action could follow if compensation was not forthcoming.
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Yesterday, Mr Trump said he would introduce a 10% global tariff for 150 days to replace some of the emergency duties struck down by the Supreme Court, before increasing the rate to 15% today, reports RTE.
In the letter, which was shared with US media, Governor Pritzker requested roughly $1,700 for every Illinois household, an amount Yale University experts estimated the average US household paid in tariffs last year.
Mr Pritzker was not the only one seeking restitution, both politically and financially, over widespread consumer difficulties, reports RTE.
California Governor Gavin Newsom argued that the funds generated by Mr Trump’s tariffs had come from American voters and should be returned.
“Time to pay the piper, Donald. These tariffs were nothing more than an illegal cash grab that drove up prices and hurt working families, so you could wreck longstanding alliances and extort them,” he said, reports RTE.
“Every dollar unlawfully taken must be refunded immediately, with interest. Cough up!”
Mr Pritzker and Mr Newsom are broadly regarded as possible Democratic candidates in the 2028 presidential election, reports RTE.
Introduced with considerable publicity last April, Mr Trump’s tariffs have generated more than $130 billion from importers, with much of the added cost passed on to consumers through higher prices.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has voiced doubt that ordinary Americans will receive direct compensation, reports RTE.
The potential scale of repayments is enormous. The Penn-Wharton Budget Model has estimated that refunds could amount to $175 billion, although it remains unclear who would ultimately receive the funds.
Mr Trump himself conceded that any refund mechanism could take years to complete, reports RTE.
This marks a stark change for those who may have expected a tariff “dividend” cheque after he repeatedly said last year that millions of Americans would receive “a little rebate” because “we have so much money coming in”.
In his dissent, Trump-appointed conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted the ruling “says nothing … about whether, and if so how, the government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers.”, reports RTE.
New York’s Democratic governor Kathy Hochul described the Trump administration’s tariffs as “an unlawful backdoor tax on hardworking families, farmers and small businesses, raising prices on everything from groceries to building materials”, though she stopped short of calling for refunds, reports RTE.
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