President Trump is imposing new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on 60 countries — covering 99% of US imports — just as his temporary global 10% tariffs expire at midnight Friday.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the countries, including Canada, Mexico, India, the EU, Japan and Britain, failed to adequately enforce bans on goods made with forced labour, calling the practice both a human rights abuse and an unfair trade advantage. The new tariffs rely on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, a durable legal authority Trump used successfully against China in his first term, after the Supreme Court struck down his broader “Liberation Day” tariffs in February.
Critics, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, argue the levies raise costs for American consumers without boosting domestic manufacturing, and note a geographic mismatch — labour concerns in one country justifying tariffs on unrelated goods from another. A separate ongoing investigation into “excess manufacturing capacity” across 16 more economies could bring further tariffs soon.
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