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The Trump administration has hit 60 countries with new tariffs of at least 10 per cent as it begins to rebuild the duties that were struck down by the US Supreme Court earlier this year.
The levies, which are based on the outcome of an investigation by the US trade representative’s office into forced labour, will go into effect on Friday when the president’s current 10 per cent global duties expire.
Countries investigated in the probe include big US trading partners such as Japan, South Korea, India and Canada along with the EU and the UK.
The tariffs are the latest in a new wave of duties from Donald Trump, who on Monday unveiled levies of 50 per cent on some Canadian goods and last week imposed a 25 per cent tariff on many Brazilian goods.
A senior US official said the forced labour tariffs would “restore fairness in the global market for American workers” and prompt US trading partners to “join the United States in eliminating forced labour from global supply chains”.
The duties are expected to include exemptions for oil, gas and fertiliser, along with some other goods that the US does not produce, and to offer carve-outs for goods that are already hit by separate national security tariffs.
They will also include exemptions for goods traded under Trump’s 2020 deal with Canada and Mexico, providing a reprieve to two of America’s largest trading partners.
The forced labour probe is part of an effort by the Trump administration to create other legal bases on which to impose levies similar to the president’s “liberation day” tariffs, rebuilding a group of duties that was struck down by the Supreme Court in February.
After the court’s decision, Washington imposed a global 10 per cent tariff regime, but it was based on a law that only allowed them to be collected temporarily, and they are set to expire on July 24.
The new tariffs are based on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the administration to avoid relying on the emergency powers that were struck down by the court.
Following the court’s ruling, the Trump administration has imposed tariffs under other trade legislation, including the national security laws used to hit steel and aluminium, and an obscure law used to impose duties on Canada earlier this week.
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