Trump imposes new double-digit tariffs on dozens of countries

With existing ۱۰ percent levies set to expire, Trump issues new tariffs on ۶۰ countries under forced labour provision.

President Donald Trump is going ahead with new double-digit tariffs on dozens of trading partners of the United States just as the clock runs out on Friday on stopgap levies he announced after a stinging defeat at the Supreme Court.

The US will slap levies of ۱۰ to ۱۲.۵ percent on imports from ۶۰ countries accounting for ۹۹ percent of US imports, charging that they have inadequately enforced bans on goods produced by forced labour.

“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement on Thursday.

“Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere.”

The new tariffs will take effect just as the temporary ۱۰ percent worldwide tariffs expire at ۱۲:۰۱am on Friday in Washington, DC (۰۴:۰۱ GMT). Trump had turned to the temporary levies after the Supreme Court struck down his biggest and boldest tariffs in February.

Now he is tapping more durable tariffs under Section ۳۰۱ of the Trade Act of ۱۹۷۴, which permits the president to impose import taxes and other sanctions against countries found to engage in “unjustifiable”, “unreasonable”, or “discriminatory” trade practices.

Trump used Section ۳۰۱ to impose big tariffs on China in his first term, and they survived court challenges.

More Section ۳۰۱ tariffs are likely coming: Greer’s office has launched a probe into whether ۱۶ countries — accounting for ۷۰ percent of US imports — have overproduced goods, pushing down prices and putting US companies at a disadvantage in global markets.

The administration has yet to complete that investigation.

Trump, who argues that high tariffs will revive US manufacturing, last year overturned decades of US policy that favoured lower tariffs and freer trade.

Invoking the ۱۹۷۷ International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), he imposed double-digit tariffs on imports from almost every country, saying that the US’s longstanding trade deficit amounted to a national emergency.

But the Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA did not authorise tariffs. The decision forced the Trump administration to pay refunds to importers that had paid the levies.

In response, Trump announced ۱۰ percent worldwide tariffs under Section ۱۲۲ of the Trade Act of ۱۹۷۴. But he can only use Section ۱۲۲ levies for ۱۵۰ days, and the time runs out on Friday.