Donald Trump is moving to resurrect his tariff agenda through a fresh legal avenue, proposing levies of 10% to 12.5% on 60 countries over alleged failures to block forced labour in imports. The plan targets major trading partners including the UK, Canada, the EU, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, and China.
The proposal comes after the US Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump's earlier "liberation day" tariffs were illegal. When he tried a sweeping 10% across-the-board tariff last month, a US trade court blocked that too, though the duties remain in place during appeals.
This new framework would allow Trump to sidestep those court rulings by grounding tariffs in labour law enforcement rather than broad protectionist powers. The levies stem from investigations under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 examining forced labour protections in 60 nations.
According to a 98-page investigation report, only Canada, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, and the European Union had not failed to establish forced labour import bans. Yet the White House is flagging even these countries. Canada faces scrutiny over enforcement, while the EU's blanket ban doesn't take effect until December 2027.
Under the proposed structure, the UK, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, and the EU would face 10% tariffs. China, Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil, and Switzerland would face 12.5%.
The US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, framed the move as addressing an unlevel global playing field. "The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable," Greer said. "American workers are forced to compete globally under unfair conditions. We will no longer tolerate this disparity."
Brussels hit back swiftly, insisting it shares Washington's concerns about forced labour but views tariffs on those grounds as unjustified. The EU noted that it entered a deal with Trump last July establishing 15% tariffs on most goods and expects the US to honour that agreement.
The UK government pointed to its Modern Slavery Act and said it continues engaging with the Trump administration. "The preferential access that UK businesses benefit from under our existing agreement remains in place and there is no change to the UKâs tariff rate," a government spokesperson said.
The tariffs would not take effect immediately and remain subject to public comment and review, giving trading partners a window to challenge the findings.
Experts had anticipated Trump would hunt for workarounds after February's Supreme Court rebuke. He had previously threatened to deploy tariffs in a "much more powerful and obnoxious way," citing at least six other potential legal routes to penalize countries he views as economic threats.
The move unsettles trading partners who have invested heavily in building a working relationship with Trump's administration and containing the unpredictability of his trade approach.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump found his loophole, and now he's testing whether labour law enforcement can do the tariff work his other legal theories couldn't survive in court."
Comments