US Slaps 10-12.5% Forced Labor Tariffs on 60 Partners
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- USTR Jamieson Greer unveiled tariffs on 60 trading partners ranging from 10% to 12.5%, effective July 24, 2026, declaring it 'well past time' for partners to enforce forced labor import bans that have been U.S. law for nearly a century.
- Trading partners with existing forced labor prohibitions — Canada, the EU, and the UK — face the lower 10% rate, while China, Japan, and others deemed non-compliant receive the steeper 12.5% levy.
- The new duties replace a 150-day 10% global tariff Trump reimposed after the Supreme Court struck down his earlier tariffs in February 2026, and are built on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which former USTR general counsel Greta Peisch called more legally robust.
- Steel, aluminum, and USMCA-covered goods are exempt from the new measures, and Washington is separately probing 16 economies over excess industrial capacity that could yield additional, country-specific duties.
- Atlantic Council's Josh Lipsky said the baseline-plus-threat structure makes the duties 'much more likely' to last through Trump's term, while former trade official Ryan Majerus noted Section 301 gives the administration 'more flexibility than people realize' to modify rates going forward.
- Brazilian goods already face a separate 25% tariff after a yearlong investigation, and Canada faces new 50% tariffs taking effect next month under an untested legal provision — evidence, per Lipsky, that U.S. tariff deals 'are still fragile.'
Why it matters: The forced-labor tariffs serve as Trump's first durable replacement for duties the Supreme Court invalidated in February, built on Section 301 authority considered legally resilient. With 60 partners covered at 10–12.5% and 16 more under separate industrial-capacity probes, Washington gains leverage to enforce existing trade pacts through baseline-plus-threat economics.
