Trump's Trade Policy: US Government Announces New Tariffs Against 60 Countries
Due to allegedly insufficient measures against forced labor, US President Trump intends to impose tariffs on imports from 60 countries. They are set to take effect as the current global US tariffs expire.
US President Donald Trump has announced new tariffs of ten to 12.5 percent on imports from 60 countries. Certain products from the European Union are also affected, as the office of US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced.
The additional tariffs will apply from Friday morning at 06:01 a.m. German time. Exempted are products that were already loaded onto a ship beforehand, are on the final leg of transport to their destination, and are cleared before July 28.
For the European Union, a tariff of ten percent will apply going forward, according to the announcement. The justification given was that the affected countries, which account for 99 percent of US imports, had not sufficiently enforced bans on goods produced using forced labor.
Current US Tariffs Expire on Friday
Trump is relying on Section 301 of the Trade Act. It allows the president to impose import tariffs against countries accused of "unjustifiable, unreasonable, or discriminatory" trade practices.
At the same time, the legal deadline for the existing global tariffs of ten percent expires on Friday. Trump had hastily imposed these following his defeat before the US Supreme Court in February.
At that time, the Supreme Court had ruled that Trump's earlier tariffs against dozens of trading partners — including the EU — imposed under an emergency law were unlawful. Trump had thereby exceeded his powers as president.
