The Trump administration is preparing to levy fresh tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on 60 trading partners, including the European Union, accusing them of failing to enforce bans on forced labour, senior administration officials said.
The measures arrive as a temporary 10% global tariff reaches its expiry.
The decision marks the White House’s latest attempt to revive President Donald Trump’s campaign-era vision of near-universal tariffs. In February, the US Supreme Court struck down his “reciprocal” duties of between 10% and 50%, which were introduced last year under a national emergencies law in an effort to reduce the US trade deficit.
Mr Trump answered the ruling by invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, legislation designed to address balance of payments crises, and imposing a temporary 10% tariff for 150 days. That measure expires tonight (05.01am Irish time).
“The United States has had a forced labour 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 as he announced the new duties.
A senior Trump administration official rejected claims that the forced labour tariffs, introduced under Section 301 of the 1974 law, were merely a direct substitute for the expiring levies, despite their timing, comparable rates and sweeping reach across nearly all US imports.
Read more: Trump orders new 50% tariff on many Canadian goods
The official argued that the US maintains tougher restrictions on imports produced with forced labour and applies those rules more strictly than any other country, leaving American businesses at an unfair disadvantage against overseas competitors.
Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress have both pressed for forced labour to be eliminated from global supply chains, the official said, adding: “so we’re really responding to that call.”
The official also said Mr Trump would “always use the tools at his disposal to achieve his trade policy objectives, and that includes tariffs”.
