US imposes new tariffs of 10-12.5% on 60 trading partners over forced labour concerns

• The US will impose new tariffs of 10-12.5% on 60 trading partners from July 24 due to forced labour concerns, affecting major economies like China, India, and the EU.
• The tariffs replace an expiring 10% global duty and aim to be legally stronger after the Supreme Court struck down previous levies.
• Additional investigations on 16 countries may lead to more duties, signalling a more protectionist US trade stance and fragile international trade deals.

WASHINGTON - The United States said on July 23 that it would impose new tariffs on 60 trading partners over forced labour concerns, replacing an expiring global duty rolled out by President Donald Trump earlier in 2026.

The levies, which take effect on July 24, range from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent and impact major economies like China, India and the European Union.

“The United States has had a forced labour import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in unveiling the duties.

He earlier added that targeted economies represent the majority of US trade.

The Trump administration has moved swiftly to rebuild the President’s tariff wall after the Supreme Court struck down a host of his duties in February – dealing a blow to his ability to unleash steep levies at will.

After the setback, Trump tapped different authorities to reimpose a 10-per-cent tariff on imports. But this only lasts 150 days, expiring on July 24.

The volley of new duties, initially proposed in June, will now take its place.

The measures were proposed after a months-long investigation and are considered more resistant to legal challenges than earlier moves.

Under the July 23 announcement, economies that have implemented a forced labour prohibition are hit with the lower 10-per-cent rate. They include Canada, the EU and the United Kingdom.

China, Japan, South Korea and dozens of others were deemed to deserve the higher 12.5 per cent tariff. But the EU, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland receive some relief, aligning with trade pacts they previously reached with the United States.

Goods already facing Trump’s sector-specific tariffs – like steel and aluminium – will not be impacted.

Certain energy products and fertilisers will be exempt too, alongside goods covered by the US-Mexico-Canada free trade pact, a US official told reporters.

Maintaining leverage

Washington is separately investigating 16 economies over excess industrial capacity, in probes that could lead to additional duties.

These could result in varying rates among countries eventually, experts warn.

The Trump administration’s move to impose a baseline tariff while sustaining the threat of further duties ahead maintains leverage over its trading partners, trade lawyer Greta Peisch told AFP.

It also creates an incentive for countries to comply with trade pacts that they earlier struck, she added.

In spending time on investigations, officials want their incoming tariffs to be robust if there are court challenges, said Peisch, a former general counsel for the Office of the US Trade Representative, who is now a partner at Wiley Rein.

“This makes it much more likely that they stay for the duration of Trump’s term,” signalling a “much more protectionist world’s largest economy” moving forward, Josh Lipsky of the Atlantic Council think tank told AFP.

Resurrecting tariffs boosts government revenues too, he added.

‘Fragile’ deals

The Trump administration has been hunting for options that would allow it to aggressively deploy tariffs, said former US trade official Ryan Majerus.

In the longer term, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which Greer tapped to impose the latest duties, provides “more flexibility than people realise”, Majerus said.

Once they are in place, officials can modify them based on new developments, added Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding.

The latest salvo comes shortly after a separate 25-per-cent tariff took effect on various Brazilian goods, as Washington accused the Latin American giant of unfair trade practices.

This week, Trump also ordered new 50-per-cent tariffs on many Canadian products, citing Ottawa’s “discriminatory treatment” against American alcohol, automobile and dairy products.

The Canadian tariffs taking effect in a month relied on an untested legal provision, showing that Trump has “other tools in the toolkit” to wield, said Lipsky.

This signals that US tariff deals “are still fragile.”

Nonetheless, the EU, which earlier signed a trade pact with the United States, expects Washington “will honor the commitments that are spelled out under the EU-US Joint Statement”. AFP