The White House is quietly preparing a backup plan for President Trump's tariffs, as the US Supreme Court decide whether he had the authority to issue them in the first place.

Bloomberg reports that the Commerce Department and the Office of the US Trade Representative have considered alternate plans in the event the court rules against the administration. The replacement plans, which may face their own legal challenges, are a sign the White House is getting ready behind the scenes for SCOTUS to rule against the tariffs, even as the president remains optimistic publicly.

The president invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy blanket tariffs on goods from other countries to try to bolster national security and the economy. But Congress is the branch of the US government with oversight of taxation and spending, not the president.

It's not clear when SCOTUS will make its ruling. But Counselor to the Treasury Secretary Joe Lavorgna told Yahoo Finance's Jennifer Schonberger earlier this month that undoing the tariffs would cause "unnecessary economic pain and hardship," damaging financial markets and confidence.

Meanwhile, Trump on Monday announced tariffs of 10% on softwood timber and lumber alongside a 25% tariff on "certain upholstered wooden products" due to take effect on Oct. 14, according to the White House.

Trump said the lumber tariffs will help "strengthen supply chains" and "bolster industrial resilience." Yet home builders have warned this could deter investments in new homes and renovations. Canada is also set to be hit hard by the order, as it's the US's largest wood supplier and already subject to duties of over 35%.

Other planned new tariffs include pharmaceuticals, including a 100% duty on patented drugs unless the producer builds a plant in the US or the country has a trade deal that covers drugs.

Pfizer (PFE) on Tuesday announced it had received a three-year reprieve from those tariffs as part of a deal with the administration to sell some drugs at a discounted rate, prompting speculation of similar deals to come.

Elsewhere, the US and China have made progress toward various contours of a broader deal following a call between Trump and China's President Xi Jinping. Trump said after that call that the countries had reached an agreement to spin off the TikTok app in the US.

Trump said the two leaders plan to conduct a series of meetings in the coming months, as Yahoo Finance's Ben Werschkul reported.

Read more: What Trump's tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet

Here are the latest updates as the policy reverberates around the world.

Bloomberg reports:

Pfizer Inc. (PFE) Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said the company secured a three-year grace period from President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on pharmaceuticals in a deal that would lower some of the company’s US drug prices.

Pfizer will sell some drugs at a 50% average discount on a direct-to-consumer website called TrumpRx, an initiative intended to allow Americans to pay for prescriptions at discounted rates negotiated by the government.

The deal appears to resolve two major threats facing Pfizer. It would stave off more damaging drug pricing policies while shielding the company from future tariffs imposed by the administration’s Section 232 investigation into whether the cost of medicine represents a national security threat.

It’s the latest example of the transactional nature of winning tariff exemptions from Trump, who has unilaterally wielded trade policy to exert power over multiple industries. As recently as last week, Trump threatened 100% tariffs on the pharma industry.

Shares are surging, up over 6% at last check.

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President Trump will continue with tariff probes despite a potential government shutdown.

Bloomberg News reports:

The Commerce Department in a shutdown contingency plan released Monday said it will continue “the necessary work to address the effect of imported articles on national security.” The contingency guidelines mark a subtle shift from the previous plan, which said investigations would continue with unexpired funds if Congress failed to approve additional spending by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

By claiming a national security rationale for the investigations, the administration can continue work on probes being conducted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. That provision allows for the imposition of tariffs on goods deemed critical to national security, an authority that President Donald Trump has turned to extensively as he levies import taxes on a number of economic sectors.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Trayton Group signed a deal to relocate most of its furniture production to Vietnam from China the day after Donald Trump was re-elected as U.S. President. New U.S. tariffs would not change the strategy, its head told Reuters.

The mid-sized manufacturer, which declined to disclose its revenues, ships 70% of its furniture to the U.S., where its sofas and armchairs are sold either under top retailers' names or with its own Simon Li brand in major chains, including Costco.

Trump signed on Monday a document imposing 25% tariffs on wooden furniture from October 14, which could rise next year to 50% for vanities and kitchen cabinets and to 30% for upholstery. He had earlier said the new duties would take effect on October 1.

Trayton is exposed to the levy on upholstery, said the company's founder and CEO Simon Lichtenberg, noting that may narrow margins but was likely to be largely absorbed by U.S. consumers who will pay more.

The relocation to Vietnam, from where Trayton currently sends to America 50 containers per week, \\"remains the right strategy,\\" he told Reuters, noting U.S. duties are higher for exports from China, where the company still has most of its international workforce of more than 1,000.

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Bloomberg News reports:

The Swiss National Bank made its most significant sales of the franc in more than three years, acting to stem a surge in the currency caused by Donald Trump’s tariff push.

Switzerland’s central bank purchased foreign exchange worth 5.1 billion francs ($6.4 billion) in the second quarter, according to data published on Tuesday. That’s in line with estimates made by UBS Group AG before the announcement.

The interventions mark the end of an effective 15-month hiatus in the SNB’s market interactions, reflecting just how volatile conditions became after Trump’s April 2 announcement of “reciprocal tariffs.” The franc still rose some 10% against the dollar in the April-June period, while against the euro it strengthened about 2%.

Read more here.

Japan's factory output fell more than expected, and retail sales declined for the first time in over three years in August due to tariffs and economic uncertainty.

Reuters reports:

Although Tokyo struck a trade deal with Washington, analysts said U.S. tariffs could still affect Japan's production and the global economy, which is keeping the Bank of Japan on edge in terms of when to next raise rates.

Industrial output fell 1.2% in August from a month earlier, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed on Tuesday, exceeding a median market forecast for a 0.8% decline.

Manufacturers surveyed by the ministry expect seasonally adjusted output to grow 4.1% in September and rise 1.2% in October. The ministry maintained its assessment that industrial output is \\"seesawing.\\"

\\"The cautious stance towards production planning remains deeply entrenched,\\" a METI official said.

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President Trump's new 10% tariffs on softwood timber and lumber — as well as 25% levies on kitchen cabinets, vanities, and upholstered wood products — represent his latest bid to use import taxes to bolster domestic manufacturing.

However, home builders have warned that these tariffs could deter investments in new houses and renovations. Trump said this latest move will help “strengthen supply chains, bolster industrial resilience, create high-quality jobs and increase domestic capacity utilization for wood products.” But analysts have warned it could hinder the effectiveness of the president's campaign to boost homebuying by pressuring the Fed to lower rates.

Bloomberg reports:

The tariffs are set to apply from Oct. 14, with some increases targeted to take effect Jan. 1, according to a proclamation signed Monday. They follow a Commerce Department investigation into imports of lumber, timber and derivative projects that was launched in March.

Canada stands to be hit hard by the order, as it’s by far the US’s largest wood supplier and it’s already subject to 35.2% duties meant to counter alleged subsidies and unfair pricing. And while Trump has claimed the US doesn’t need Canadian lumber, Canadian supplies make up about a fifth of the US market.

The levies are being imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which empowers the president to charge tariffs on goods in the name of national security. They are distinct from the so-called reciprocal, or country-specific, tariffs Trump has imposed to raise revenue and reverse trade imbalances.

Trump’s expanding pool of sectoral tariffs covers a wide array of consumer goods. The US has already slapped tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, and a slew of other Section 232 investigations is still being conducted into foreign-made solar panels, commercial aircraft, semiconductors and critical minerals. Trump earlier announced plans for a 100% tariff on brand-name pharmaceuticals, though with a carveout for companies building manufacturing capability in the US.

Read more here.

President Trump announced new tariffs impacting the furniture industry late Monday night with a proclamation released via the White House website.

The announcement says the US will set tariffs on softwood timber and lumber of 10%, as well as duties of 25% on \\"certain upholstered wooden products.\\" There was no indication as to what specific upholstered wooden products will be impacted.

The tariffs are due to take effect as of 12:01 a.m. ET on October 14, 2025. Additionally, the proclamation set a date to increase certain tariffs.

President Trump also teased a broader set of forthcoming tariffs on countries that import furniture to the US on Monday.

In a post on social media, he wrote: \\"In order to make North Carolina, which has completely lost its furniture business to China, and other Countries, GREAT again, I will be imposing substantial Tariffs on any Country that does not make its furniture in the United States. Details to follow!!!\\"

Last Thursday, Trump announced that he would impose a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, and related products, beginning Oct. 1, and a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture.

President Trump announced on Monday that he will following through on a threat to impose a 100% tariff on any movies made outside the United States.

\\"Our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing 'candy from a baby,'\\" Trump posted on Truth Social. \\"Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.\\"

As movies are considered a service and not a good, which many of Trump's other trade policies have centered on, it's unclear how the mechanics of the tariff will work. Trump first proposed a tariff on movies in May, stating that Hollywood and other movie-making regions in the US were \\"being devastated\\" by other countries offering incentives to filmmakers.

According to the American Action Forum, the US movie industry maintains a trade surplus of between $14.9 billion and $15.3 billion. The US film industry is also still considered dominant, as the top 10 largest film studios are based in the US and have accounted for over 85% of the domestic box office since 1995.

Washington has demanded that Taiwan move investment and chip production to the US so that half of American demand is manufactured locally.

Bloomberg News reports:

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Washington was weighing a broad plan to reduce its reliance on overseas semiconductors, saying companies must produce as many chips in America as they import from other sources or face additional tariffs. Lutnick didn’t elaborate in the NewsNation interview about how the US would convince Taipei to get behind his objective.

The US has held discussions about that with Taipei to reduce the risks of over-reliance, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview with NewsNation. It was the only way to effectively counter Beijing’s threats to invade a self-ruled island it views as its own, Lutnick argued.

“That’s been the conversation we had with Taiwan, that you have to understand it’s vital for you to have us produce 50%,” he said. The US aims to get to “maybe 50% market share of producing the chip and the wafers — the semiconductors — we need for American consumption. That’s our objective,” Lutnick said during the interview.

US officials have for years warned about an over-dependence on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) and its giant ecosystem of suppliers, which together make and supply the vast majority of the world’s most advanced chips. That risk emerged particularly during Covid-era shortages that highlighted how semiconductors fueled industries from car-making to military technology and AI.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

Australian beef has replaced U.S. supply in China since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, funnelling hundreds of millions of dollars that have in previous years gone to the U.S. cattle industry into Australian pockets.

U.S. shipments to China, worth around $120 million a month, collapsed after Beijing in March allowed permits to expire at hundreds of American meat facilities and as Trump unleashed a tit-for-tat tariff war.

Other U.S. farm exports to China, the world's biggest food importer, have also suffered since Trump retook power. On soybeans alone, U.S. farmers have lost out on shipments worth billions of dollars during the current harvest season.

U.S. beef exports have in general declined in recent years as drought shrank the country's cattle herd, reducing production and pushing prices to record highs. But the drop in trade with China has been far more sudden and extreme.

Read more here.

President Trump's trade deals with South Korea and Japan face fresh hurdles as both Seoul and Tokyo push back on their investment pledges in the US.

South Korea agreed in July to a $350 billion investment promise as part of a trade deal to lower US tariffs to 15% from 25%, and Japan pledged a similar investment worth $550 billion. But the deals now appear to be in jeopardy.

Bloomberg News reports:

“We are not able to pay $350 billion in cash,” South Korea’s National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said in a Channel A News television interview on Saturday evening, referring to Seoul’s investment pledge with Washington. “It is objectively and realistically not a level we are able to handle.”

“Our position is not a negotiating tactic,” he added.

Wi’s comments came after Trump described the investment pledges agreed by South Korea and Japan as “up front.”

Seoul and Washington agreed in July to a $350 billion investment pledge as part of a broader trade deal to lower US tariffs to 15% from 25%, but the two sides remain divided over how it should be structured. A similar pledge made by Japan worth $550 billion also remains unclear on the specifics of implementation, while the details that have emerged from the deal have alarmed officials in Seoul.

South Korea’s Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said in an interview with Bloomberg News last week that without a currency swap arrangement with the US, the investment could deliver a severe blow to the national economy. The sum of $350 billion is equivalent to more than 80% of South Korea’s foreign reserves.

Read more here.

AstraZeneca (AZN) plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange and has pledged a $50 billion investment in US manufacturing by 2030 in a bid to attract more global investors but also avoid hefty tariffs on pharmaceutical imports.

Reuters reports:

AstraZeneca plans to directly list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, instead of its current depositary receipts structure, to attract more global investors, the drugmaker said on Monday, but will remain listed and headquartered in London.

The move will be of some relief to UK investors after media reports suggested the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker - London's most valuable company - was considering ditching its British listing in favour of the U.S. That had raised worries about the shrinking London stock market as companies seek higher valuations and access to deeper capital markets elsewhere.

AstraZeneca has also pledged to invest $50 billion in U.S. manufacturing by 2030, amid global drugmakers' efforts to avert hefty tariffs on pharmaceutical imports into the country, and will cut some direct-to-patient U.S. drug prices as demanded by President Donald Trump's administration.

Read more here.

Bloomberg News reports:

Chinese firms are mostly less profitable than comparable US companies, leaving exporters at risk of a further hit to earnings as President Donald Trump’s tariffs sap demand, according to new research from Bloomberg Economics.

While Chinese companies can defend their “razor-thin margins by leveraging their market dominance” in the short term, at some point US customers will have to raise prices in response, wrote Bloomberg’s China economists Chang Shu and David Qu.

“Tariffs will eventually pass through to consumers, weighing on demand — a pattern seen in the first trade war in the late 2010s,” they said. “The hit could be even harsher this time, as tariffs are broader and US restrictions on transshipments stricter.”

Thinner profitability will likely make the US even less of a draw for Chinese exporters, as American consumers show signs of moving away from products most directly exposed to tariffs. China’s shipments to the US have already seen five months of double-digit declines, a slump more than offset by improved sales in other major markets.

Read more here.

Despite a \\"handshake deal\\" the two countries made in July to lower US tariffs on South Korea, a top aide to South Korea's president said the country can't afford to make the payment upfront, as US President Trump has suggested, Reuters reports:

South Korea has said the $350 billion in investment would be in the form of loans and loan guarantees as well as equity.

Trump in remarks this week said South Korea would provide the investment \\"upfront\\", despite Seoul's contention that kind of outlay could plunge Asia's fourth largest economy into a financial crisis.

\\"The position we're talking about is not a negotiating tactic, but rather, it is objectively and realistically not a level we are able to handle,\\" South Korea's National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said on Channel A News television.

\\"We are not able to pay $350 billion in cash,\\" he said.

South Korea, which pledged $350 billion toward U.S. projects in July, has balked at U.S. demands for control over the funds and South Korean officials say talks to formalize their trade deal are at a deadlock.

Read more here.

China has stopped buying US soybeans amid a rising trade war with Washington, the Associated Press reports, and farmers are feeling anxious:

Beijing, which traditionally has snapped up at least a quarter of all soybeans grown in the U.S., is in effect boycotting them in retaliation for the high tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on Chinese goods and to strengthen its hand in negotiations over a new overall trade deal.

It has left American soybean farmers fretting over not only this year's crop but the long-term viability of their businesses, built in part on China's once-insatiable appetite for U.S. beans.

“This is a five-alarm fire for our industry,” said [Caleb] Ragland, who leads the American Soybean Association trade group.

The situation might even be enough to test farmers’ loyalty to Trump, although he still enjoys strong support throughout rural America. If no deal is reached soon, they hope the government will come through with aid as it did during Trump's first term, but they see that only as a temporary solution. Trump said Thursday he is considering an aid package.

U.S. and Chinese officials have held four rounds of trade talks between May and September, with another likely in the coming weeks. No progress on soybeans has been reported.

Getting closer to harvest, “I’m honestly getting worried that the time is running out,” said Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council.

Read more here.

Reuters reports:

The Trump administration is considering imposing tariffs on foreign electronic devices based on the number of chips in each device, according to three people familiar with the matter, as it seeks to drive companies to shift their manufacturing to the United States.

According to the plan, which has not previously been reported and could change, the Commerce Department would impose a tariff on the imported product that is equal to a percentage of the estimated value of the chip content of the item.

If implemented, the plan would show the Trump administration is seeking to hit a wide range of consumer products, from toothbrushes to laptops, potentially driving up inflation as it seeks to ramp up U.S. manufacturing.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on pharmaceutical imports will not apply to countries with negotiated agreements with the US that contain provisions on drugs, according to a White House official, delivering promised relief to economies including the European Union and Japan.

Duties on pharmaceuticals from the EU will be capped at 15% per the terms of its framework deal, the official said Friday. Japanese drugs will also be charged the rate spelled out in its pact, the official added. The US-Japan joint statement says American tariff rates on Japanese drugs and semiconductors should not exceed those applied to others, including the EU.

The UK, another country that exports pharmaceuticals to the US, would face the 100% tariff, according to a White House official. London also negotiated a trade agreement with Washington that included provisions for similar exemptions, but the two countries have not yet agreed on a rate for pharmaceuticals.

Read more here.

Concerns around whether people would boycott US products grew after President Trump announced tariffs earlier this year. However, it seems foreign investors buying US equities \\"Buy America\\" was key.

Bloomberg News reports:

When it comes to US equities, the opposite happened. Foreign purchases rose to a record in the second quarter, according to Federal Reserve Board data. Demand has been so brisk that stocks now make up nearly 32% of foreigners allocations to US assets — breaking a record that’s been in place since 1968.

While data show that foreigners have scaled back on travel to the US along with some purchases of US-made products, the American stock market has proven too enticing to quit. Part of that owes to the dominance of firms chasing riches in artificial intelligence, which has swelled the share prices of Nvidia Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc., among others. And while they have been buying stocks, foreign investors have sent the dollar sharply lower, perhaps hedging exposure to the US.

Read more here.

Daimler Truck (DTG.DE, DTRUY) and Traton (8TRA.ST) shares fell on Friday after President Trump announced tariffs on heavy-duty trucks.

Bloomberg News reports:

Together with a barrage of tariffs in other sectors, including on pharmaceuticals, Trump said on Thursday the U.S. would impose duties of 25% on imports of heavy-duty trucks from October 1.

Daimler Truck's stock was down 3.3% at 0952 GMT, making it the biggest decliner in Germany's blue-chip index. Shares in Volkswagen-owned Traton, were 2.8% lower.

Citi said a 25% tariff on trucks assembled in Mexico would likely have a 700-800 million euro ($818-$934 million) impact on earnings for Daimler Truck, although the group could be able to absorb around half of that in the near term via price increases.

Neither Daimler Truck nor Traton export to the United States from Europe as they have factories in the U.S. and sites in Mexico that are covered by the USMCA free trade pact.

Analysts at Bernstein said it had not been explicitly said that Trump's announcement would apply to the USMCA-compliant Mexican sites, but that they assumed it to be the case.

\\"Finally, it's also not clear if the industry-specific tariffs will come on top of the country-based tariffs, although some countries including the EU have negotiated agreements that prevent tariff 'stacking',\\" the analysts said.

Read more here.