President Donald Trump is pressing ahead with a fresh round of double-digit tariffs targeting dozens of U.S. trading partners, with the new duties kicking in just as earlier stopgap tariffs he put in place after a Supreme Court loss reach their expiration Friday.
The administration announced late Thursday that it would impose additional tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on 60 economies, representing 99% of all U.S. imports. The White House said these countries have not done enough to prevent goods produced through forced labor from entering trade channels.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer defended the move, stating: “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.”
The new tariffs are set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, precisely when the temporary 10% blanket tariffs Trump had implemented worldwide are scheduled to expire. Those temporary measures had been put in place after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s broader tariff package back in February.
The announcement drew swift criticism from several nations. Australia’s Trade Minister Don Farrell called the tariffs “completely unjustified,” pushing back against suggestions that Australia — a significant exporter of beef, gold, and copper — has ties to modern slavery practices. “We believe that amongst all of the countries in the world Australia does take the issue of slavery, modern slavery, seriously, and will continue to do that,” Farrell told reporters in Adelaide.
Japan also voiced its objections to the 12.5% tariff placed on its exports, saying Tokyo had previously been assured by the Trump administration that no additional tariffs would be added beyond an earlier agreement on a 10% U.S. import duty.
In a separate development, hundreds of retired and former journalists along with eight press freedom organizations are calling on the White House Correspondents’ Association to take a stand against the Trump administration’s treatment of the media at its rescheduled dinner this week — an event President Trump has said he plans to attend.
The original dinner was cut short in April after a gunman, whom prosecutors allege was attempting to assassinate Trump, opened fire at the Washington Hilton. The rescheduled, smaller event will be held Friday at the capital’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, formerly known as the Trump International Hotel, with heightened security in place.
The letter calling for action, organized by former ABC News correspondent Lisa Stark and producer Ian Cameron, points specifically to recent Justice Department subpoenas issued to New York Times journalists who covered security concerns surrounding the president’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One aircraft. Subpoenas for phone records have reportedly extended to the mother of one reporter and two journalists’ spouses.
Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East remain elevated. A series of explosions were reported near a military base in northern Iraq that hosts U.S. forces, and sirens were heard in Bahrain on Friday — this coming just hours after the U.S. military announced the completion of its 13th consecutive night of strikes against Iran.
The conflict has intensified over the past week, with the U.S. conducting sustained strikes on Iran while Tehran has attacked vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and targeted American assets and regional allies. Iranian-allied Houthi rebels further escalated the situation by striking two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, threatening to cut off an alternate route for the region’s oil supply. The Strait of Hormuz remains a critical chokepoint for global energy, and disruptions there could send fuel prices climbing worldwide.
