Impose a 10% to 20% baseline tariff on imports

Trump promised "10 to 20 percent tariffs on foreign countries," and the 2024 Republican platform called for "baseline Tariffs on Foreign-made goods." This record treats that as a promise of a broad baseline tariff on imports. As President he imposed a 10% baseline duty under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) through Executive Order 14257, effective April 5, 2025. The order applied to most trading partners but excluded Canada and Mexico, which were covered by separate orders, as well as goods under Section 232 tariffs and listed products such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and energy. On February 20, 2026 the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not allow the President to impose tariffs. Executive Order 14389 ended those duties the same day. Trump replaced them with a 10% surcharge under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which ran from February 24 to July 24, 2026. Since July 24, 2026, Section 301 tariffs have applied to goods from 60 economies that account for 99.4% of U.S. import value. That figure counts all imports from those economies before exemptions. The headline rates are 10% or 12.5%. For the EU, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland, though, the Section 301 duty is net of the existing most-favored-nation (MFN) rate, so on some goods it is lower or zero. The tariff does not apply to Canadian and Mexican goods entered duty-free under USMCA, goods under Section 232 tariffs, or listed product groups. The Tax Foundation estimates the tariff base at about $954 billion a year for 2026, before behavioral changes. As a rough cross-year comparison, that is about 28% of the $3.4 trillion in U.S. goods imports in 2025 reported by BEA.

The rating is compromise, not kept. Trump delivered a narrower version of the promise and supports it. The headline rates of 10% and 12.5% fall within the range he named, though for five partners the duty is net of MFN and can be lower. The action covers 60 economies accounting for 99.4% of U.S. import value before exemptions. After exemptions, though, it applies to well under half of U.S. imports by value, so it is not a baseline on imports generally. Even read against the narrower wording of the quote, "tariffs on foreign countries," the exemptions are large: most imports from Canada and Mexico enter duty-free under USMCA, and those goods are exempt. The difference matters to the outcome, which kept does not allow. The rating is not in progress or blocked, because the tariff is in force and being collected. A Court of International Trade ruling against it would call for a new review.