Monday, February 23, 2026…4:10 PM ET
[4:00 PM ET closing prices for stocks; 3:50ish for commodities and bonds.]
To go back to last Friday/Saturday…and the reaction around the world to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump’s tariffs.
President Trump, in the following announcement on Truth Social Saturday AM, said he is imposing a new 15% global tariff on all imports entering the U.S., effective immediately, replacing the 10% global tariff he announced Friday after the Supreme Court ruled that much of his existing tariff regime was illegal.
President Trump:
“Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court, please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been ‘ripping’ the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level. During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again – GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
To impose the new tariff, Trump is turning to a legal tool called Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which has never been used before for tariffs, but allows a president to impose tariffs of up to 15% for as long as 150 days to address problems caused by persistent trade deficits.
For now, the law buys Trump and his trade team time to work on more individualized tariffs using other legal means.
The new tariff applies broadly, much like the 10% global tariff he put in place in April with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which the Supreme Court struck down.
The European Commission requested “full clarity” from the United States and asked its trade partner to fulfill its commitments after the Supreme Court struck down some of Trump’s most sweeping tariffs…and then Trump’s move on Saturday to impose the global tariff of 15%. The European Union’s executive arm said the current situation is not conducive to delivering “fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial” trans-Atlantic trade and investment, as agreed to by both sides and spelled out in the EU-U.S. Joint Statement of August 2025.
American and EU officials sealed a trade deal last year that imposes a 15% import tax on 70% of European goods exported to the U.S. The European Commission handles trade for the 27 EU member countries. “A deal is a deal,” the European Commission said. “As the United States’ largest trading partner, the EU expects the U.S. to honor its commitments set out in the Joint Statement – just as the EU stands by its commitments.”
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Trump’s latest tariff moves risk upsetting the previously negotiated “equilibrium” between the EU and the U.S. and could pose a new headwind to the economy.
It’s “critically important” to have clarity about the future of the trade relationship, Lagarde told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“You want to know the rules of the road before you get in the car,” Largarde said. “It’s the same with trade.”
The European Parliament’s trade chief on Sunday said he’ll propose freezing ratification of the EU’s trade deal with the U.S. in light of the “chaos” on the other side of the Atlantic.
Jamieson Greer, Trump’s top trade negotiator, said in a CBS News interview Sunday morning that the U.S. plans to stand by its trade deals and expects its partners to do the same.
Those deals – which the administration made with partners including China, the EU, Japan and South Korea – remain in place, Greer said on “Face the Nation” Sunday. He sought to separate those arrangements from the planned 15% global tariff announced by Trump.
“We want them to understand these deals are going to be good deals,” Greer said. “We’re going to stand by them. We expect our partners to stand by them.”
But the UK is at risk of becoming the biggest loser in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision.
Britain had enjoyed a relatively lower reciprocal tariff rate at 10% compared with other countries – giving it a competitive advantage – but Trump’s promise to reimpose the levies at 15% for all nations means businesses may now face even higher duties. The UK will see the largest increase as a result, followed by Italy and Singapore, according to Global Trade Alert, while Brazil, China and India stand to benefit the most.
UK officials are now anxiously trying to persuade the U.S. administration to exempt it from the higher rate. The British Chambers of Commerce estimates that it will raise the cost on UK exports to the U.S. by as much as $4 billion and will impact 40,000 British companies.
As President Trump prepares for his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, first week in April (he leaves March 31), however, Xi is suddenly in the driver’s seat. The new 15% tariff rate is a lot better than the up to 145% rate at their peak, before the U.S. and China reached various truce agreements.
The White House said the new charge wouldn’t stack on top of tariffs imposed under Section 232, according to its statement last Friday. That means sectors such as cars and steel that are already subject to 25% to 50% won’t be hit with another 15%.
The White House didn’t address whether the new tariff applies on top of existing Section 301 tariffs. The “reciprocal” tariffs on China that the court struck down did stack on top of Section 301 tariffs imposed on some Chinese goods.
For its part, India said it was postponing talks in the U.S. this week that were to be for the purpose of finalizing an interim trade deal after the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying it wanted more clarity.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said Sunday the U.S. was in contact with its foreign trading partners “and they like the tariff deals.”
“So, you know, they’re not going to be changed,” Bessent said on Fox News.
Representative Don Bacon, a Republican tariff skeptic who has praised the Supreme Court ruling, said in a social media post that Trump’s new 15% tariff order “will not endure.”
“It is not Constitutional,” Bacon said on X. “It’s not only terrible policy, but it is also bad politics.”
Greer signaled that US. Trade partners shouldn’t count on tariff relief based on the Supreme Court ruling.
Trump then posted on Truth Social Monday AM, after the market had been open about 20 minutes….
“As President, I do not have to go back to Congress to get approval of Tariffs. It has already been gotten, in many forms, a long time ago! They were also just reaffirmed by the ridiculous and poorly crafted supreme court decision! President DJT” [The president opting to use ‘lower case’ for the Supreme Court…he’s so clever….]
After all this, stocks fell hard today…
It’s not just tariffs, you have Tuesday’s State of the Union Address, where the president is liable to say almost anything, and the tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, with a fresh round of talks slated for Thursday and a massive U.S. force in the region locked and loaded.
Plus, we have Nvidia’s earnings on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, if you aren’t from the New York/Boston area, you missed out on a rather hefty snowstorm, a blizzard for some…my place in the New Jersey burbs got 20 inches as did much of my state. It’s been an awful winter.
Ready for baseball! Go Mets!
Dow Jones -821…-1.7% [48804]
S&P 500 -71…-1.0% [6837]
Nasdaq -258…-1.1% [22627]
Oil (WTI) $66.40
Gold $5250
Silver $88.70
Bitcoin $64,480 [4:00 PM ET…another crappy day for whatever this is…]
U.S. 2-yr. 3.44%
U.S. 10-yr. 4.03%
Japanese 10-yr. 2.10%
Back Tuesday.
Brian Trumbore
