President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
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Mark Schiefelbein/AP
WASHINGTON ā President Donald Trump is set to implement new tariffs on numerous U.S. trading partners as temporary levies are about to expire following a Supreme Court setback.
The U.S. will impose tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 countries, representing 99% of U.S. imports, citing insufficient enforcement of bans on forced labor-produced goods.
“The United States has enforced a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and it’s high time our partners do the same,” stated U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “This action aims to rectify a human rights abuse and a trade distortion to enhance worker welfare worldwide.”
The impending tariffs will commence as previous temporary 10% worldwide tariffs expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday. These temporary measures were introduced after the Supreme Court nullified Trump’s prior significant tariffs in February.
Utilizing Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, Trump is now imposing more robust tariffs, which allows for import taxes against countries practicing “unjustifiable,” “unreasonable,” or “discriminatory” trade behaviors. Previously, Section 301 was used to levy tariffs on China, which withstood court challenges.
Further tariffs under Section 301 may be forthcoming: the U.S. Trade Representative’s office has launched an investigation into whether 16 countries, representing 70% of U.S. imports, have excessively produced goods, thereby reducing prices and disadvantaging U.S. companies in global markets. This inquiry is still ongoing.
Last year, Trump, advocating that high tariffs would rejuvenate American manufacturing, reversed decades of U.S. policy favoring lower tariffs and free trade. Using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), he applied double-digit tariffs on imports globally, claiming the trade deficit was a national emergency.
However, the Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA did not authorize tariffs, which led the administration to refund importers who had paid these tariffs.
In response, Trump announced 10% worldwide tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, but these could only be applied for 150 days and were set to expire Friday.
Initially proposed last month, the forced labor tariffs have since seen some countries improve their enforcement, qualifying them for reduced tariffs. For instance, tariffs on Indian imports were reduced from 12.5% to 10% after stricter enforcement measures.
Exempt from the new tariffs are products such as oil, gas, and fertilizer, as well as items eligible for duty-free status under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, established during Trump’s first term.
U.S. companies importing foreign products pay the tariffs, often passing these costs onto consumers through higher prices. Introducing new tariffs could be risky for the administration amid public frustration over living costs, especially with the Nov. 3 midterm elections approaching.
Human rights advocates express skepticism about the tariffs’ motivations but acknowledge their potential effectiveness against forced labor.
Forced labor, as defined by the International Labor Organization’s Forced Labor Convention of 1930, involves work or service coerced under the threat of penalty without voluntary consent.
The ILO reported that in 2021, around 27.6 million people were subjected to forced labor worldwide on any given day.
Martina Vandenberg, founder and president of The Human Trafficking Legal Center, stated, “We’ve long supported import bans as a tool, though not a silver bullet, to combat forced labor globally.”
Vandenberg emphasized the need for a phased implementation of tariffs to allow countries time to establish meaningful enforcement mechanisms.
Kenya Davis from Boies Schiller Flexner pointed out that the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021, which bans imports from China’s Xinjiang region, is the most significant U.S. legislation on forced labor before these tariffs.
“The effectiveness remains debatable, but it has certainly highlighted labor trafficking and forced labor issues,” Davis stated.
Isabelle Glimcher from the NYU Stern Center for Human Rights noted a flaw in the tariffs: they tax countries based on imports rather than domestic production. Nonetheless, she observed that the impending tariffs have prompted countries like India to revise trade policies to ban forced labor imports, with the EU set to implement similar regulations next year.
Glimcher added, “While not solely due to the Section 301 investigations, these measures appear to be pushing countries to take the issue more seriously.”
