WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday put new tariffs into place targeting goods from 60 countries and trading blocs, including the European Union and China, accusing those partners of failing to adequately crack down on forced labor in their supply chains. The new duties, set at either 10% or 12.5%, kicked in just as a separate temporary 10% global tariff reached its expiration point.
The move represents the White House’s latest attempt to revive President Donald Trump’s broader tariff agenda after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his so-called “reciprocal” duties — which had ranged from 10% to 50% — back in February. Those duties had been put in place under a national emergencies law as a way to reduce the U.S. trade deficit.
Announced Thursday through a Federal Register notice, the new tariffs cover roughly 99.4% of all U.S. imports. However, a range of products are excluded, including oil and gas, fertilizer, and certain food items.
The duties were imposed using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a legal tool that has held up in court before. Legal experts say this approach may face less judicial risk than the tariffs that were overturned in February.
Trump’s temporary global tariff lapsed at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Friday after 150 days in effect. The new forced labor tariffs took effect at that exact moment, though goods already in transit will be exempt until 12:01 a.m. on July 28.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer defended the action in a statement, saying, “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.” He added, “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 also indicated that countries that have already struck trade deals with Washington capping their tariff rates will not see those caps exceeded by the new forced labor duties.
Among those hit with a 10% duty are 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, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Switzerland were assigned rates that, when combined with existing most-favored-nation tariff rates, total either 10% or 12.5%.
The remaining 38 countries received a 12.5% rate. That group includes Vietnam, which this week issued new rules more specifically prohibiting imports made with forced labor, and China — which the U.S. accuses of holding Uyghur minorities in forced labor camps, an allegation Beijing denies.
Trump administration officials have told their Chinese counterparts they plan to rebuild second-term tariffs on Chinese goods back up to the 20% level agreed upon in a trade truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2025, but not go beyond that. Before Friday’s action, China’s tariff rate had dropped to 10%, not counting the 25% tariff on industrial goods imposed during Trump’s first term.
The announcement drew swift objections from several trading partners. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc found the tariffs shocking and that the rationale offered by Washington didn’t hold up. “If you compare our labor laws to the ones of the United States, I mean, we have paid vacations, we have very good labor conditions for our employees, so it’s not really grounded,” she told reporters on the sidelines of ASEAN meetings in Manila.
Australia and Brazil called the tariffs unjustified and said they would work to get them lifted. Norway said there was “no basis” for the new duties.
Canada, which was already hit Monday with new Trump tariffs on $20 billion worth of goods, responded more cautiously. Canada’s minister in charge of U.S. trade, Dominic LeBlanc, said, “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.”
Kelly Ann Shaw, a former White House trade adviser during Trump’s first term and now a partner at a major law firm, said the new tariffs largely matched what had been expected, though some adjustments were made — including adding about 471 products to an exemption list. “I think this is more status quo in terms of the economic impact,” she said, noting that partners including the EU had negotiated tariff caps that would keep their new rates lower than under earlier arrangements.
A senior Trump administration official pushed back on the idea that the forced labor tariffs were simply a substitute for the expiring levies, despite the timing, similar rates, and broad coverage. The official said the U.S. enforces its import ban on forced-labor goods more strictly than any other country, giving foreign competitors an unfair edge.
The official also noted that members of both parties in Congress have called for eliminating forced labor from global supply chains, saying the administration is “really responding to that call.”
Trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a former Commerce Department official and partner at King and Spalding, said the new tariffs may be harder to challenge legally because Section 301 has survived past court battles and judges may be reluctant to block actions aimed at curbing forced labor. “Once the 301 duties are placed, they have a lot of flexibility to adjust them,” he said. “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.”
Among the goods exempted from the new duties are oil and gas, fertilizer, certain foods, and products already covered by national security tariffs — such as automobiles, steel, aluminum, and copper. Aircraft and parts, as well as critical minerals, are also excluded. Goods that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will similarly be exempt, given the deeply integrated North American supply chain and the high level of U.S. content in those products.
