By David Lawder
July 23 (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Friday will impose new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on 60 trading partners, including the European Union, over allegations of lax enforcement of forced labor bans, just as a temporary 10% global tariff expires, senior administration officials said on Thursday.
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The move is the White House’s latest effort to restore President Donald Trump’s campaign vision of a near-global tariff after the U.S. Supreme Court in February struck down his “reciprocal” duties of 10% to 50% imposed last year under a national emergencies law to try to shrink the U.S. trade deficit.
Trump responded to that ruling by imposing a temporary 10% tariff for 150 days that expires at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Friday (0401 GMT), invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, a law meant to quell balance of payments crises. The new duties will take effect at that exact same moment, with goods in transit exempted until 12:01 a.m. EDT on July 28.
A senior Trump administration official disputed suggestions that the forced labor tariffs — invoked under the 1974 law’s Section 301 — were simply a direct replacement for the expiring levies despite the timing, similar duty rates and vast coverage of nearly all U.S. imports.
The official said the U.S. has stronger import bans on goods made with forced labor and enforces them more rigidly than any other country, giving rivals an unfair trading advantage over the U.S.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have been calling for the eradication of forced labor from global supply chains, “so we’re really responding to that call.”
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The official added that Trump would “always use the tools at his disposal to achieve his trade policy objectives, and that includes tariffs.”
The administration official said that many goods will be exempted from the duties, including oil and gas, fertilizer, certain foodstuffs and goods that are already subject to Section 232 national security tariffs, such as autos, steel, aluminum and copper.
Other goods that comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade will also be exempted because of the highly integrated North American supply chain and high levels of U.S. content in the goods.
The final Section 301 unfair trade practices tariffs largely track the forced labor duties proposed on June 1. Goods from countries that have passed adequate anti-forced labor laws will be levied at the lower 10% rate, and imports from those with inadequate bans will be subject to the higher 12.5% rate.
Recent actions and legislation by some countries, including India, moved them to the 10% tariff rate since the duties were first proposed.
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(Reporting by David Lawder)
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