President Donald J. Trump,
U.S. trading partners in Asia were weighing fresh uncertainties this weekend
after President Donald Trump announced a new tariff on imports,
hours after the Supreme Court struck down many of the sweeping
levies he used to launch a global trade war.
The court’s ruling invalidated a number of tariffs that the
Trump administration had imposed on Asian export powerhouses
from China and South Korea to Japan and Taiwan, the world’s
largest chipmaker and a key player in tech supply chains.
Within hours, Trump said he would impose a new 10% duty on
U.S. imports from all countries starting on Tuesday, which he
raised to 15% on Saturday. The levies, under a different law,
are set for 150 days, prompting analysts to warn that more
measures could follow, threatening more confusion for businesses
and investors.
Before the ruling, Trump’s tariff push had strained
Washington’s diplomatic relations across Asia, particularly for
export-reliant economies integrated into U.S.-bound supply
chains.
In Japan, a government spokesman said on Saturday that Tokyo
“will carefully examine the content of this ruling and the Trump
administration’s response to it, and respond appropriately.”
On Sunday, Itsunori Onodera, an executive of Prime Minister
Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party and a former defence
minister, called Trump’s new tariffs “outrageous”.
“As an ally, I’m worried this will only accelerate countries
distancing themselves from the U.S.,” Onodera, the LDP tax
policy chief, who is not in government, told a talk programme on
Fuji Television.
China, which is preparing to host Trump in late March, has
not responded to the latest tariff moves with the country on an
extended holiday. But a senior financial official in China-ruled
Hong Kong described the U.S. situation as a “fiasco”.
Christopher Hui, Hong Kong’s secretary for financial
services and the treasury, said Trump’s new levy served to
underscore Hong Kong’s “unique trade advantages”.
“This shows the stability of Hong Kong’s policies and our
certainty … it shows global investors the importance of
predictability,” Hui told a media briefing on Saturday when
asked how the new tariffs would affect the city’s economy.
Hong Kong operates as a separate customs territory from
mainland China, a status that has shielded it from direct
exposure to U.S. tariffs targeting Chinese goods.
While Washington has imposed duties on mainland exports,
Hong Kong-made products have generally faced lower tariff rates,
allowing the city to maintain trade flows even as Sino-U.S.
tensions escalated.
As Trump’s levies escalated through 2025 and early 2026,
corporate disclosures tracked by Reuters showed firms across the
Asia-Pacific region reporting financial hits, supply shifts and
withdrawals.
Friday’s ruling concerns only the tariffs launched by Trump
on the basis of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,
or IEEPA, intended for national emergencies.
Trade policy monitor Global Trade Alert estimated that by
itself, the ruling cuts the trade-weighted average U.S. tariff
almost in half from 15.4% to 8.3%.
For those countries on higher U.S. tariff levels, the change
is more dramatic. For China, Brazil and India, it will mean
double-digit percentage-point cuts, although to still-high
levels.
In Taiwan, the government said it was monitoring the
situation closely, noting that the U.S. government had yet to
determine how to fully implement its trade deals with many
countries.
“While the initial impact on Taiwan appears limited, the
government will closely monitor developments and maintain close
communication with the U.S. to understand specific
implementation details and respond appropriately,” a cabinet
statement said.
Taiwan has signed two recent deals with the U.S. – a
memorandum of understanding last month that committed Taiwan to
invest $250 billion, and a deal was signed this month to lower
what Trump calls “reciprocal” tariffs.
Even before Trump raised his new levy to 15%, analysts said
the court ruling might offer little relief for the global
economy. They warned of looming confusion as trading nations
brace for moves by Trump to find other means of using levies to
circumvent the ruling.
Thailand’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office head Nantapong
Chiralerspong said the ruling might even benefit the country’s
exports as uncertainty drove a fresh round of “front-loading”,
where shippers race to move goods to the U.S., fearing even
higher tariffs
Published on February 22, 2026