The United States is imposing new tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on around 60 trading partners, covering 99.4% of imports, after determining those nations failed to effectively stop forced labor. The levies take effect on July 24, replacing an expiring stopgap duty.
The Trump administration has launched a sweeping new trade enforcement action, targeting around 60 economies that account for the vast majority of American imports. Announced by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the duties replace a temporary 10% global import tax that expires on Friday as a temporary 10% tax on foreign goods introduced earlier this year expires. The administration designed the new measures to bypass legal hurdles after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down earlier emergency powers tariffs.
Section 301 Investigations and Tiered Tariff Rates
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, acting under the direction of President Donald Trump, invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to execute the policy. The statute permits the executive branch to investigate foreign commercial practices deemed unreasonable or discriminatory against American commerce.
Following months of investigation, the administration established a tiered structure based on whether targeted countries maintain enforceable import bans on goods produced with forced labor. The lower 10% bracket covers economies such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico, alongside the European Union, which receives adjustments tied to existing trade pacts along with the European Union, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland. Major economies facing the higher 12.5% rate include China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Vietnam.
Legal Turnarounds After Supreme Court Defeats
The new trade enforcement strategy arrives as the White House scrambles to secure sustainable legal footing for its protectionist agenda. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the administration overstepped its authority by utilizing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping global tariffs when the US Supreme Court struck down sweeping global tariffs he’d imposed last year. That defeat forced federal authorities to refund tens of billions of dollars to importers.
To bridge the revenue and leverage gap, the administration enacted a temporary 10% levy, an authority limited to 150 days which gives the president the power to deal with balance-of-payment issues. With that stopgap expiring, Section 301 investigations provide a sturdier mechanism that trade lawyers say is built to withstand judicial review and are considered more resistant to legal challenges than earlier moves.
International Pushback and Exemptions
Trading partners have pushed back against the administration’s rationale. The European Commission criticized the measures as unfounded, noting that the EU enacted an ambitious forced labor regulation in 2024 that will take full effect in 2027 noted that the EU approved a forced labour regulation in 2024, which bans the sale of products made using such practices and will enter into force in 2027. European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill stated that the EU considers tariffs imposed on these grounds to be unjustified.
The White House carved out exemptions for specific commodities said that it would limit the impact by exempting from the latest proposed tariffs a long list of products. Goods exempt from the forced labor levies include certain energy products and fertilisers, alongside goods covered by the US-Mexico-Canada free trade pact and products already covered by sector-specific tariffs like steel and aluminum including oil and gas, things that aren’t produced in the U.S. or could cause economic disruptions.
Negotiating Leverage and What Lies Ahead
Alongside the forced labor duties, the U.S. Trade Representative is pursuing separate investigations into manufacturing overcapacity across 16 economies investigating structural excess capacity in more than a dozen countries. With additional sector-specific tariffs active against Brazil and Canada, trade partners are left weighing potential legal challenges or retaliatory measures as Washington maintains its aggressive commercial posture Many trading partners are already weighing potential legal challenges or retaliatory duties in response.
