Trump Imposes New Forced-Labour Tariffs on 60 US Trading Partners

KUALA LUMPUR, JULY 2026 – The United States has introduced new tariffs on goods imported from 60 trading partners as President Donald Trump seeks to rebuild a near-global tariff system following a major Supreme Court setback.

The duties, set at either 10% or 12.5%, took effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday, July 24, 2026. They replaced a temporary 10% global tariff that expired at the same moment after remaining in force for 150 days. Goods already in transit will be exempt until 12:01 a.m. on July 28.

Washington said the measures were introduced because several trading partners had allegedly failed to enforce restrictions against goods produced using forced labour. The administration described that failure as both a human-rights concern and a trade practice that disadvantaged American businesses and workers.

The new duties were imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a provision that allows the United States to respond to foreign policies or practices considered unfair or harmful to American commerce. The legal mechanism has survived previous court challenges, potentially making the latest tariffs more difficult to overturn than the reciprocal duties invalidated earlier in 2026.

The US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s previous reciprocal tariffs in February. Those measures, ranging from 10% to 50%, had been introduced under national emergency powers as part of an effort to reduce the country’s trade deficit.

Argentina, Bangladesh, Britain, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad and Tobago are among the economies facing a new 10% duty.

The European Union, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland were assigned rates that, when combined with their existing most-favoured-nation tariffs, bring their total duties to either 10% or 12.5%. Another 38 countries, including China and Vietnam, were placed under the 12.5% rate.

The new tariff structure covers approximately 99.4% of all US imports. However, the administration has introduced numerous exemptions designed to limit disruption to strategically important products and supply chains.

Exempted products include oil and natural gas, fertiliser, selected food items, aircraft and aircraft components, and critical minerals. Goods already subject to separate national-security tariffs, such as automobiles, steel, aluminium and copper, will also generally be excluded.

Products that meet the requirements of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will remain exempt because of the highly integrated North American supply chain and the substantial level of US content in many of those goods.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the United States had enforced a ban on forced-labour imports for almost a century and argued that other trading partners should apply similarly strict standards. He said the tariffs were intended to address human-rights abuses while reducing distortions in global trade.

The administration has also indicated that countries with negotiated tariff caps will not have their overall rates pushed above those agreed limits. This arrangement applies to several major trading partners that previously reached trade agreements with Washington.

China’s tariff position remains particularly significant. US officials have said they intend to rebuild Trump’s second-term tariffs on Chinese goods to the 20% level agreed during a trade truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2025, without exceeding that ceiling.

Several affected governments have rejected Washington’s justification. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described the measures as a shock and questioned the forced-labour rationale, pointing to the bloc’s labour protections and employment standards.

Australia and Brazil also described the tariffs as unjustified and said they would seek their removal, while Norway said there was no basis for the action. Canada stated that it would continue engaging with Washington over the unilateral measures and other unresolved trade matters.

The administration has denied that the tariffs are simply a replacement for the expired global levy, despite their similar rates, timing and broad coverage. Officials argue that weak enforcement of forced-labour restrictions gives foreign producers an unfair competitive advantage over American companies.