U.S. imposes fresh double-digit tariffs on dozens of trading partners, citing forced labor enforcement

Greer described the tariffs as an effort to 'correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.' The new duties replace the Trump administration's original sweeping levies, which the Supreme Court struck down in February, ruling that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize the tariffs and forcing the administration to pay refunds to importers.

Legal basis shifts after court ruling

The administration is now imposing the tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which permits the president to impose import taxes and sanctions against countries found to engage in unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory trade practices. President Donald Trump used Section 301 to impose large tariffs on China in his first term, and those tariffs survived court challenges.

After the February ruling, Trump responded by announcing 10% worldwide tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Section 122 limits the use of such levies to 150 days, with that period expiring on Friday. The fresh duties take effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday as the temporary 10% baseline lapses.

Canada, Mexico, India, Indonesia and the United Kingdom face 10% tariffs on top of their other U.S. import levies, while China faces a 12.5% rate. Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and the European Union are subject to tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5%.

EU accepts duties under Turnberry truce

Under a transatlantic trade truce struck at Turnberry in Scotland last year, Washington committed to cap tariffs imposed on most EU goods at 15%. Unlike many other countries, the 10% duty on EU exports will not come on top of 'most favored nation' duties. The European Union on Friday signaled it could live with the new U.S. tariffs imposed over its alleged failure to ban imports made with forced labor.

Products qualifying for duty-free status under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement are being spared from the new tariffs, as are some products including oil and gas and fertilizer. The administration has not yet completed a separate Section 301 overproduction investigation, which covers 16 economies including mainland China, Taiwan, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the European Union and several Southeast Asian countries. Together, those economies account for 70% of U.S. imports.

Martina Vandenberg, founder and president of The Human Trafficking Legal Center, urged in testimony that the tariffs be implemented in a phased approach to give countries time to build enforcement mechanisms. 'Our concern is that the import bans will be thin slips of paper with no enforcement. Countries need time to build import ban mechanisms that are meaningful and enforceable,' she said.

Advocates urge phased enforcement

Vandenberg added that her organization has for years advocated import bans as a potentially effective tool in combating forced labor, 'not as a silver bullet.' She also said it is possible to be critical of blanket tariffs while still recognizing that the threat has produced results. 'It's possible to be extremely critical of tariffs, as we are, and to be very concerned about blanket tariffs used as bludgeons against countries. And yet I think it's undeniable that there is a significant response in terms of the adoption of import bans,' she said.

A senior administration official, speaking anonymously, said some countries tightened forced labor enforcement after the initial proposal last month and qualified for lower tariffs. The tariff on imports from India was initially set at 12.5% but will now be 10%, the official said.

Isabelle Glimcher, senior research scientist for global labor at the NYU Stern Center for Human Rights, said the impending tariff threat has already spurred India to amend its foreign trade policy to include a forced labor import ban. Kenya Davis, partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, said the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is the most significant U.S. federal legislation related to forced labor passed before the tariffs. That 2021 law prohibits the importation of goods made wholly or in part in China's Xinjiang region or by designated entities.

Critics call forced-labor rationale a pretext

Experts stated that the forced labor allegations serve as a pretext for imposing tariffs. The new duties are part of Trump's broader America-first trade agenda, and the administration is rolling them out ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

Tariffs are paid by U.S. companies that import foreign products, and importers usually try to pass along the cost to consumers through higher prices. According to the International Labor Organization, about 27.6 million people were in forced labor worldwide on any given day in 2021.

Broader investigations still pending

The ILO's 1930 Forced Labor Convention defines forced labor as 'all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself (or herself) voluntarily.' The new tariffs are unlikely to generate the same level of global shock as the original sweeping levies, but they preserve a significant tariff wall while the administration pursues additional investigations.

The U.S. Trade Representative's office has launched a separate probe into whether the 16 countries under the industrial capacity investigation have overproduced goods and put U.S. companies at a disadvantage in global markets. That investigation has not yet been completed. Together, the forced labor tariffs and the overproduction probe represent a two-pronged effort to rebuild the trade barriers the Supreme Court forced the administration to dismantle in February.