Trump admin considers allowing tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days as 'Plan B': Report

US President Trump’s trade team is reportedly readying its plan B to impose the president’s steep tariffs amid the latest court rulings.

The Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying on Thursday that Trump's administration is considering a stopgap effort to impose tariffs on large parts of the global economy under an existing law that includes language allowing for tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days.

The administration has not made a final decision and it could wait to impose any plans, the report added.

The report emerged a day after a federal appeals court temporarily allowed his duties to stay in effect following a trade court ruling to immediately block them.

As per the WSJ report, US officials are now weighing “twofold response” should they need to find a new legal authority to impose the president’s steep tariffs, which he argues will help rebalance trade in America’s favor.

‘Twofold response’

The first, sources said, is that the administration is considering a stopgap effort to impose tariffs on swaths of the global economy under a never-before-used provision of the Trade Act of 1974.

It includes language allowing for tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days to address trade imbalances with other countries," sources told WSJ.

That would then buy time for Trump to devise individualised tariffs for each major trading partner under a different provision.

That second step reportedly requires a lengthy notification and comment process, but is seen by administration officials as more legally defensible than the tariff policy that was found to be illegal this week.

The alternative provision has been used many times in the past, including for Trump’s first-term tariffs on China, the report added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the administration is weighing other options to impose tariffs as it appeals the court rulings, but she didn’t give specifics.

Court rulings

Earlier this week, a three-judge panel of the US Court of International Trade ruled that Trump overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency and plaster taxes – tariffs – on imports from almost every country in the world.

But Trump’s trade wars are far from over. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday allowed the president to temporarily continue collecting the tariffs under the emergency powers law while he appeals the trade court's decision.