Donald Trump said “fundamental international payment problems” prompted 10% tariff on all foreign goods

President Donald Trump cited severe international payment strains as his reason for imposing a temporary 10 percent tariff on all foreign goods in February 2026, according to Slate’s Executive Dysfunction newsletter. He used Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, saying the situation endangered U.S. financing; a lawsuit followed, and the U.S. Court of International Trade invalidated the measure. The episode shows the administration shifting among trade laws after the Supreme Court rejected its 2025 emergency-powers tariffs. The latest test is a 50 percent duty on $20 billion of Canadian goods under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, a provision no prior president had used for tariffs; a Georgetown trade scholar said it could give the president broad new tariff authority.