Trump Imposes Forced Labor Duties on 60 Trading Partners
The administration of US President Donald Trump imposed new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners, including the European Union and China, on Friday, citing allegations of failure to enforce a ban on forced labor, coinciding with the expiration of the temporary global 10% tariffs.
This move represents the latest White House effort to reinstate Trump’s vision of imposing tariffs on nearly all countries worldwide, following the US Supreme Court’s February ruling that struck down the “reciprocal” tariffs ranging from 10% to 50%, which Trump had imposed the previous year under a national emergency law in an attempt to reduce the US trade deficit.
The new duties, announced yesterday Thursday in the Federal Register for Notices, cover 99.4% of US imports but include numerous exemptions for products such as oil, gas, fertilizers, and certain food items.
The new tariffs, imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, allow the US administration to maintain a minimum tariff level on nearly all imports despite the setback from the Supreme Court.
These tariffs are also likely to face fewer legal challenges than those struck down by the court in February, as Section 301 has withstood previous legal challenges.
The temporary global 10% tariffs imposed by Trump expired at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday (04:01 GMT), after 150 days.
The new tariffs took effect at that exact moment, with a grace period for in-transit goods until 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time on July 28.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement, “The United States has enforced a ban on importing goods made with forced labor for nearly a century, and we enforce it strictly. It is time for our trading partners to follow our lead.”
He added, “The actions taken today will begin to correct what constitutes a human rights violation and a distorted trade practice, in order to improve the situation of workers everywhere.”
Greer had previously stated that for countries that have signed trade agreements with Washington capping US tariff rates, the new forced labor-related tariffs would not exceed those ceilings.
The European Union, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Switzerland were assigned rates that, when added to existing tariff rates, total 10% or 12.5%.
The remaining 38 countries were assigned a rate of 12.5% by the United States, including Vietnam, which issued a new decree this week establishing more detailed rules banning the import of goods made with forced labor, and China, which Washington accuses of detaining members of the Uyghur minority in labor camps—an accusation Beijing denies.
Trump administration officials informed their Chinese counterparts that they intend to reinstate the tariffs Trump had set on Chinese goods to 20%, as agreed in the trade truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2025, without exceeding that level.
Prior to Friday’s action, the tariff rate on Chinese goods had been reduced to 10%, except for a 25% rate imposed during Trump’s first term on industrial goods.
The move immediately sparked protests from some trading partners.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said the bloc views the new tariffs as a shock and dismissed Washington’s justifications as baseless. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings in Manila, she said, “If you compare our labor laws with those in the United States—I mean, we provide paid leave and have very good working conditions for our employees—so this has no real basis.”
Australia and Brazil described the new tariffs as unjustified, stating they would seek their repeal, while Norway said they were “groundless.” Canada, which on Monday faced new U.S. tariffs on goods worth $20 billion, offered a restrained response to these “unilateral” measures.
A senior Trump administration official rejected suggestions that the tariffs related to forced labor were merely a direct substitute for expired duties, despite the timing, similar rates, and their application to nearly all U.S. imports. The official said the United States enforces a stricter ban on importing goods made with forced labor and implements it more rigorously than any other country, giving competitors an unfair trade advantage at the expense of the United States. The official added that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress are demanding an end to forced labor in global supply chains, “so we are actually responding to this call.”
Ryan Majerus, a trade lawyer and former Commerce Department official, said challenging the new tariffs in court could be difficult, as Section 301 has withstood previous legal challenges, and some judges may be reluctant to issue injunctions to curb forced labor practices.
The official said many goods would be exempt from the tariffs, including oil, gas, fertilizers, certain food items, and products already subject to national security tariffs under Section 232, such as automobiles, steel, aluminum, and copper. Aircraft and their components, as well as critical minerals, would also be exempt.
