Trump Is Seeking To Rebuild His Global Tariff Program After The SC Knocked It Down. Dozens Of Countries Are Targeted

President Donald Trump has restored a tariff floor across most U.S. imports, imposing new duties on goods from 60 trading partners after the Supreme Court struck down the legal basis for his earlier global tariff program.

The duties of 10% and 12.5% took effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT Friday, immediately replacing a temporary 10% global tariff that had remained in place for 150 days. The administration said the affected economies had failed to adequately prevent products made with forced labor from entering their supply chains.

The measures cover 99.4% of U.S. imports but exclude numerous products, including oil and gas, fertilizer, certain foods, aircraft and parts, critical minerals and goods already subject to national security tariffs, Reuters reported. Autos, steel, aluminum and copper are among the products covered by separate duties.

“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,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement cited by Reuters. Greer said the tariffs were intended to address both human rights abuses and trade distortions linked to forced labor.

The administration imposed a 10% rate on goods from countries including Britain, Canada, India, Mexico, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Washington said those economies had introduced, or planned to introduce, restrictions on forced-labor imports but were not enforcing them effectively.

China, Vietnam, Australia, Brazil and Norway were among the economies assigned a 12.5% rate. The European Union, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Switzerland received rates designed to bring their combined existing and additional tariffs to either 10% or 12.5%. Goods already in transit were granted an exemption until July 28.

The White House used Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose the duties. That law allows the U.S. government to respond to foreign practices it considers unfair or discriminatory. The approach differs from the emergency-powers law Trump used for the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court in February.

The new structure was designed to withstand greater legal scrutiny, The Wall Street Journal reported, after the court invalidated Trump’s earlier “reciprocal” tariffs of between 10% and 50%. Those duties had been imposed under a national emergencies statute as part of the president’s effort to reduce the U.S. trade deficit.

Trading partners rejected the administration’s allegations. China said it opposed unilateral tariffs and maintained that trade wars served no country’s interests. Australia, Brazil and Norway described the duties as unjustified, while several Asian governments disputed Washington’s findings on their forced-labor enforcement, The Associated Press reported.

The European Commission offered a more measured response. It said the outcome remained consistent with existing U.S. tariff commitments under the EU-U.S. trade agreement and provided momentum for discussions on further exemptions. The bloc nevertheless rejected the findings that formed the basis of the forced-labor investigation.

The EU benefited from exemptions covering products including diamonds, aircraft parts, cork and generic medicines, Reuters said. Switzerland also disputed the allegations but said Washington had respected its previously agreed tariff ceiling of 12.5%.

Britain said its trade agreement with Washington remained intact and pointed to the removal of U.S. tariffs on whisky and medical technology. The British Chambers of Commerce described the changes as mixed, noting benefits for whisky and steel exporters but reduced advantages against European suppliers in other industries.

The administration is also conducting a separate Section 301 investigation into alleged industrial overcapacity involving 16 trading partners, including China, the EU, India, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland. That process is distinct from the forced-labor action announced Friday.