U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will impose new 10 percent and 12.5 percent tariffs on imports from 60 trading partners beginning Friday, July 24, citing what it describes as inadequate enforcement of bans on forced labour, just as a temporary 10 percent global tariff is set to expire.
The new tariffs, announced on Thursday, July 23, will cover approximately 99.4 percent of U.S. imports, although several categories, including oil and gas, fertiliser, certain food products and goods already subject to national security tariffs, will remain exempt. The measures are being introduced under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, replacing temporary tariffs that expire at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Friday (0401 GMT). Goods already in transit will remain exempt until July 28.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the United States has long enforced strict prohibitions on imports produced with forced labour and argued that other countries have failed to apply similar standards.
“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,” Greer said, adding that the measures are intended to address human rights concerns while correcting what Washington considers unfair trade practices.
Under the new policy, a 10 percent tariff will apply to imports from countries including 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, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Switzerland will face tariff levels that, when combined with existing most favoured nation duties, total either 10 percent or 12.5 percent, while the remaining 38 countries, including China, will generally face 12.5 percent duties.
The White House said countries that have already reached trade agreements with Washington will not see tariff rates rise above previously negotiated limits. Administration officials also said they intend to gradually restore tariffs on Chinese goods to the 20 percent level agreed under the November 2025 trade truce between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, without exceeding that ceiling.
The announcement prompted criticism from several governments. Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide rejected the U.S. justification, saying Norway already has robust measures to prevent goods made with forced labour from entering its market. Australia and Brazil described the tariffs as unjustified and said they would seek their removal, while Canada’s Minister responsible for U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, said Ottawa would continue engaging constructively with Washington over the issue.
Trade experts said the administration’s reliance on Section 301 may make the tariffs more difficult to overturn in court than Trump’s earlier reciprocal tariffs, which were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in February. Legal analysts noted that Section 301 has survived previous judicial challenges and gives the administration broad authority to modify tariff rates over time.
The new measures form part of the Trump administration’s broader strategy to rebuild U.S. manufacturing, reduce trade deficits and tighten enforcement against imports linked to forced labour, while preserving a baseline tariff on most goods entering the United States.
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