By David Lawder
July 23 (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Friday will impose new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners, including the European Union, over allegations of lax enforcement of forced labor bans, just as a temporary 10% global tariff expires.
The move is the White House’s latest effort to restore President Donald Trump’s campaign vision of a near-global tariff after the U.S. Supreme Court in February struck down his “reciprocal” duties of 10% to 50% imposed last year under a national emergencies law to try to shrink the U.S. trade deficit.
The new tariffs, announced on Thursday in a Federal Register notice, will cover 99.4% of U.S. imports, but include numerous product exemptions, such as oil and gas, fertilizer and certain food items.
Imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the new duties allow the administration to maintain a tariff floor on virtually all U.S. imports despite the Supreme Court setback. The tariffs are also likely to face less legal risk than those struck down in February, as Section 301 has survived prior court challenges.
Trump responded to the February Supreme Court ruling by imposing a temporary 10% tariff for 150 days that expires at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Friday (0401 GMT). The new duties will take effect at that exact same moment, with goods in transit exempted until 12:01 a.m. EDT on July 28.
“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,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.”
Greer has previously pledged that for countries that have reached trade deals with Washington capping U.S. tariff rates, the new forced labor duties would not push them above those caps.
Under the final determination, the U.S. will impose a 10% duty on goods of Argentina, Bangladesh, Britain, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago.
The European Union, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland were assigned rates that, combined with pre-existing most-favored-nation tariff rates, would total 10% or 12.5%.
The other 38 countries were assigned a 12.5% rate. These include China, accused by the U.S. of detaining Uyghur minorities in work camps, which Beijing denies.
Trump administration officials have told Chinese counterparts they intend to rebuild Trump’s second-term tariffs on Chinese goods back up to the 20% that was agreed upon in a trade truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2025 – but not exceed that level. Prior to Friday’s action, China’s tariff rate had fallen to 10%, excluding the 25% imposed during Trump’s first term on industrial goods.
COUNTRIES PROTEST
The action drew immediate protests from some countries.
Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said “there is no basis for this tariff against Norway because we already have clear rules that are intended to prevent trade in goods produced using forced labor.”
Australia and Brazil described the new tariffs as unjustified and said they would seek to have them removed, while Canada – hit on Monday with new Trump tariffs on $20 billion worth of goods – issued a muted response to the “unilateral” tariffs.
“We will continue engaging constructively with the United States on this matter, as well as other outstanding issues, over the coming weeks to the mutual benefit of our citizens,” said Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister in charge of U.S. trade.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat, also criticized the duties in a statement, saying they “will result in higher costs, negative impacts to businesses and weakened American competitiveness. Nobody can afford this.”
SIMILAR RATES, DIFFERENT TARIFF
“As expected, the forced labor tariffs largely replicate current tariff levels as negotiated in various reciprocal trade agreements, and replace the 10% tariffs under Section 122 that expire on Friday,” said Tim Brightbill, a trade law partner with Wiley Rein in Washington.
A senior Trump administration official disputed suggestions that the forced labor tariffs were simply a direct replacement for the expiring levies despite the timing, similar duty rates and vast coverage of nearly all U.S. imports.
The official said the U.S. has stronger import bans on goods made with forced labor and enforces them more rigidly than any other country, giving rivals an unfair trading advantage over the U.S.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been calling for the eradication of forced labor from global supply chains, “so we’re really responding to that call,” the official said.
Ryan Majerus, a trade lawyer and former Commerce Department official, said the new tariffs could be harder to challenge in court because Section 301 has withstood past challenges and some judges may be reluctant to enjoin actions to curb forced labor.
“Once the 301 duties are placed, they have a lot of flexibility to adjust them,” said Majerus, a partner at King and Spalding. “It’s a sledgehammer. It’s also intended to keep the …10% baseline in place, and they think they’re well protected when this goes to court.”
EXEMPTIONS EXPANDED
Many goods will be exempted from the duties, including oil and gas, fertilizer, certain foodstuffs and goods that are already subject to Section 232 national security tariffs, such as autos, steel, aluminum and copper, the official said.
Other goods that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade will also be exempted because of the highly integrated North American supply chain and high levels of U.S. content in these products.
(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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