Washington, United States. The Trump administration imposed new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on imports from 60 trading partners on Friday, citing allegations that they do not adequately enforce forced-labour bans. The measures took effect as a temporary 10% global tariff expired.
Scope and legal basis
Announced in a Federal Register notice on Thursday, the tariffs cover 99.4% of US imports, while exempting products including oil and gas, fertiliser and certain food items.
The duties were imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. They allow the administration to retain a minimum tariff level on nearly all US imports after the Supreme Court in February struck down Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, which ranged from 10% to 50% and had been imposed under a national emergencies law to reduce the US trade deficit.
Section 301 duties have survived previous court challenges and are expected to face less legal risk than the tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court.
Timing and exemptions
Trump’s temporary global tariff expired at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Friday, after 150 days. The new tariffs took effect at the same time.
Goods already in transit are exempt until 12:01 a.m. EDT on July 28.
Administration statement
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the action addressed both a human rights abuse and a trade practice that distorts competition.
“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it. It’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” Greer said.
Greer has previously said that, for countries with trade agreements setting caps on US tariff rates, the new forced-labour duties would not raise rates above those limits.
Countries affected
A 10% duty was imposed on goods from Argentina, Bangladesh, Britain, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The European Union, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland received rates which, when combined with existing most-favoured-nation tariffs, totalled 10% or 12.5%.
The remaining 38 countries were assigned a 12.5% tariff. They include Vietnam, which this week issued a decree detailing rules banning imports made with forced labour, and China.
The United States has accused China of detaining Uyghur minorities in work camps, an allegation Beijing denies.
