President Donald Trump was quick to respond with a plan B when the US Supreme Court deemed much of the White House's existing tariff infrastructure unlawful.
The president pledged to use separate powers to introduce a global 10 per cent tariff from February 24, and has since taken to social media to signal a lift in this rate to 15 per cent.
EY partner Luke Branson said the US government was yet to officially update its proclamation with the new rate, and that further legal challenge was on the cards.
Yet if such an increase to the global rate goes ahead, he said the competitive advantage experienced in some Australian sectors exporting to the US would be eroded.
Under the agenda now ruled illegal by the highest US court, many competing markets face much higher rates than the 10 per cent paid on Australian exports.
"A global tariff rate of 15 per cent will level the playing field for Australian exporters," the firm's Oceania global trade lead told AAP.
"The increase in the rate will bring the so-called 'baseline' tariff into line with a number of the trade deals struck between the US administration and key trading partners."
The United States is a modest buyer of Australian goods, making up roughly five per cent of total exports annually.
Beef and gold are among Australia's biggest export markets to the US and early indications suggest these items will remain exempt.
Independent economist Saul Eslake expected a modest direct impact on Australia from the latest trade developments given the size of the market for domestic producers.
He noted worst-case economic scenarios failed to materialise in 2025.
"The effects of the tariffs to date, while Trump had imposed them on Australia, were quite limited," Mr Eslake told AAP.
He did anticipate more uncertainty as countries scrambled to decode and respond to the latest announcements, and said that could weigh on economic activity.
The indirect influence of tariffs on Australia's bigger export markets, such as China, remained a concern, with weaker exports of those countries into the US potentially weighing on their imports from Australia.
The United States Studies Centre research director Jared Mondschein said the legal tool pursued by the Trump administration, Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, had never been used for tariffs before.
"It basically allows President Trump to buy some time as they use the more conventional manners of imposing tariffs," he told AAP.
Mr Mondschein said it would slow the US trade agenda down as it pursued more conventional methods on firmer legal footing.
"So we won't have the wild gyrations."
Mr Mondschein said the latest developments were unlikely to make the situation much simpler for Australia, noting the middle power was still undergoing consequential negotiations on pharmaceuticals with the US.
