The Trump administration has threatened tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on 60 trading partners, including the United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan, and China, over alleged failures to prevent forced labor in imports. The move represents a fresh attempt to advance the administration's tariff agenda following legal setbacks.
The announcement comes after the US Supreme Court struck down many of Trump's previous tariffs in February, and a US trade court subsequently ruled his across-the-board 10% tariffs unlawful last month. Those duties remain in place during appeals.
The new proposal uses Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, investigating labor laws across trading partners. According to a 98-page report, only Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, and Pakistan initially passed assessment, though the administration judged Canada to be failing to enforce its laws adequately. The EU's forced labor import ban does not take effect until December 2027, potentially exposing it to tariffs.
The tariff structure targets different countries at different rates. The EU, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, and the UK would face 10% duties, while China, Japan, India, South Korea, Brazil, and Switzerland would face 12.5% levies. The Trump administration separately proposed 25% tariffs on Brazil over unrelated trade practice concerns.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated: "The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable. This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field. We will no longer tolerate this disparity."
The EU immediately rejected the characterization, saying it "fully shares" US concerns about forced labor but "considers tariffs imposed on these grounds to be unjustified." The European Commission argued it expected the US to respect a tariff deal agreed in July and said these measures breached the spirit of that agreement.
The UK government responded that it had already addressed forced labor through legislation, including the Modern Slavery Act. A government spokesperson said the country "continues to engage regularly with the US administration" and that there is "no change to the UK's tariff rate" under existing agreements.
The new tariffs would not take effect immediately and remain subject to public comment and review periods. The proposal reflects the administration's determination to implement tariffs through alternative legal frameworks after multiple court challenges to previous measures. Experts had predicted Trump would pursue additional routes to impose tariffs after the February Supreme Court ruling.
Trading partners now face uncertainty over the timing and final scope of the duties while the US completes its review process.