Key facts
- New tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% have been imposed on goods from over 80 countries.
- The tariffs are intended to address concerns about foreign countries not adequately enforcing prohibitions on products manufactured through forced labor.
- These duties replace a previous global 10% tariff that expired.
- The tariffs were issued under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
- Exemptions include oil, gas, fertilizer, and goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The Trump administration has implemented new tariffs, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, on goods imported from over 80 countries. These duties, which took effect at 12:01 a.m., replace a global 10% tariff that expired simultaneously. The administration stated the tariffs are a response to countries failing to adequately enforce prohibitions on products manufactured through forced labor, a practice it argues is a human rights abuse and a distortive trade practice.
These measures are being enacted under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose tariffs on nations engaging in unreasonable or discriminatory trade practices. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer emphasized the U.S.'s long-standing ban on forced labor imports and called for trading partners to adopt similar measures.
However, critics, including former Biden administration official Peter Harrell, suggest the forced labor issue is being used as a pretext to reimpose tariffs that were previously struck down by the Supreme Court. Senator Ron Wyden also voiced skepticism, calling the move an attempt to reconstruct illegal global tariffs under the guise of addressing forced labor.
Exemptions from the new tariffs include oil, gas, fertilizer, and certain national resources, as well as goods already covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or subject to national security tariffs on items like cars and steel. The administration has also initiated investigations into overproduction by 16 other countries, indicating further tariffs may be forthcoming.