Trump's administration replaced the tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February with new duties on 60 economies under Section 301, and by July 24 most trading partners faced an additional 10% or 12.5% charge. The Federal Reserve says earlier tariffs already pushed up import prices, a channel that feeds into inflation, Treasury yields, the dollar and Fed policy — forces that have steered Bitcoin's price through 2026.
By July 24, goods from 60 trading partners faced a new US tariff barrier. Most carried an additional duty of 10% or 12.5%, though exemptions and existing trade agreements make the actual bill less uniform than the headline rates suggest.
A new legal foundation
The Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act doesn't authorize a president to impose tariffs, rejecting the law Trump had used to tax imports from nearly every country. The ruling was narrow, however, and left other tariff powers Congress had delegated to presidents untouched.
Trump first invoked Section 122 of the Trade Act to impose a temporary 10% surcharge starting Feb. 24, a measure that could run no more than 150 days without congressional approval and expired in July. The administration then opened 60 separate Section 301 investigations on March 12 into whether trading partners had failed to prohibit imports made with forced labor. The Office of the US Trade Representative concluded in June that the targeted economies' policies were unreasonable and burdened American commerce.
Canada, Mexico, the European Union, Pakistan, Ecuador and Indonesia generally received a 10% rate for having forced-labor prohibitions they weren't enforcing effectively, while most remaining targets received 12.5%. Several others had made commitments through trade agreements or adopted partial enforcement systems.
Tariffs reach Bitcoin through the Fed
The Federal Reserve's July Monetary Policy Report said earlier tariff increases had already pushed up domestic prices for some imported goods. Separate Fed research found that tariffs implemented through November 2025 had raised core goods inflation considerably, and that inflation makes rate cuts harder to justify, which in turn keeps Treasury yields elevated and reduces demand for assets like Bitcoin that generate no cash flow.
During an earlier tariff scare, US Bitcoin ETFs recorded roughly $235 million in net outflows, with products from Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise and ARK Invest among those affected. Bitcoin trades around the clock while bond markets close on weekends, so a tariff announcement can spark a crypto reaction before traditional markets reopen. Trump's earlier tariff escalation contributed to $2 billion in crypto liquidations.
A more durable tariff wall
Trade attorneys told Reuters the newer tariff wave is likely to be more durable than the invalidated version, since it relies on established trade statutes rather than a broad emergency claim. Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT began shifting parts of mining-rig production toward the United States as trade tensions increased.
Judges have yet to rule on the new tariffs, and importers must keep paying while the legal arguments play out. For Bitcoin, that durability matters: a shock that fades quickly barely registers, but a tariff regime built to survive court challenges keeps inflation, yields and the dollar in play as forces on its price.
Source: CryptoSlate
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