The Tariff King is back at it again, folks, and this time he's got a moral justification to go along with the import duties. President Trump just announced fresh tariffs targeting 60 countries that haven't bothered to ban goods made with forced labor, as Conservative Brief reported. Because apparently, nearly a century after America prohibited those imports, the rest of the planet still needs a financial nudge to get on board.
Here's how the math works on this one. Countries that have actually passed or started enforcing laws against forced labor imports get to keep their cozy 10% tariff rate. Everyone else? Congratulations, you just earned yourself a 12.5% import duty, effective at one minute past midnight on July 24. It's like a global pop quiz, and most of the class failed.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer basically told the world to get its act together, saying America has enforced a forced labor import ban for close to 100 years and it's about time our trading partners followed suit. He called forced labor both a human rights abuse and a trade practice that distorts markets, which is a polite way of saying "you're cheating and being terrible simultaneously."
The countries earning gold stars with the lower 10% rate include Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom. India apparently squeaked in after passing legislation to block forced labor goods. Good timing there.
For EU member states, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Switzerland, the situation gets a little more complicated. Some of their products face 10% while others get hit with 12.5%, because nothing says "simple trade policy" like a spreadsheet with footnotes.
Now here's where it gets really fun from a legal nerd perspective. These new duties are being implemented through a Section 301 investigation because the Supreme Court already smacked down last year's "Liberation Day" tariffs. So the administration basically said "fine, we'll use a different law" and pulled out Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. When one door closes, open a much older door.
Oil and gas imports get a free pass on this one, and administration officials promise these tariffs won't be stacked on top of existing Section 232 duties covering steel, aluminum, and similar products. They also claim the economic impact should be minimal since the rates mostly mirror what was already in place. Sure, "minimal."
The new import taxes will cover roughly 99% of American imports, which is a pretty impressive net to cast. This all comes on the heels of a 50% tariff slapped on certain Canadian imports earlier in the week, because apparently our neighbor to the north needed some extra attention.
Meanwhile, back in June, the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge against tariffs on Chinese imports from Trump's first term, leaving those measures standing. So if you're keeping score at home, that's tariffs on basically everyone, everywhere, all at once.
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