US Rebuilds Global Tariff Wall With New Duties on 60 Trading Partners

The United States has imposed a new wave of tariffs on goods from 60 trading partners, including China, the European Union, the United Kingdom, India and South Africa.

The duties took effect on Friday July 24, replacing the temporary 10 per cent global import surcharge that expired at the same time. Most affected goods will now face an additional tariff of either 10 per cent or 12.5 per cent.

The Trump administration says the measures respond to countries failing to prevent goods made with forced labour from entering their supply chains. Several governments have rejected that justification, even where the new rates remain within existing trade agreements.

For global businesses, the decision restores a broad tariff floor across most goods entering the US. However, the final rules also contain hundreds of exemptions covering products the administration considers important to domestic supply or economic stability.

New Tariffs Cover 60 Trading Partners

The US Trade Representative launched separate investigations into the 60 economies in March 2026 under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

Section 301 allows the US to respond to foreign acts, policies or practices that it considers unreasonable, discriminatory or harmful to American commerce. Following its investigations, the agency concluded in June that all 60 economies had failed to impose or effectively enforce adequate restrictions on imports produced with forced labour.

The Office of the US Trade Representative said it consulted with more than 45 of the affected governments. It also received more than 1,600 written comments and heard testimony from more than 100 witnesses before finalising the tariffs.

Countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan and the UK will face duties of 10 per cent. This group includes economies that already have restrictions on forced labour imports, have agreed to introduce them or have partial controls in place.

Most of the remaining countries will face a 12.5 per cent tariff. These include Australia, Brazil, China, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Türkiye and Vietnam.

The system works slightly differently for goods from the EU, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan. Existing US tariffs and the new Section 301 duties will be combined so that the total rate reaches either 10 per cent or 12.5 per cent, depending on the trading partner. Products that already face duties at or above the relevant threshold won’t receive an additional Section 301 charge.

US Changes the Legal Basis for Global Tariffs

The latest measures follow the US Supreme Court’s decision in February to strike down the administration’s earlier global tariffs. Those duties had been introduced under emergency powers and ranged from 10 per cent to 50 per cent.

A temporary 10 per cent import surcharge was introduced after the ruling, but it could only remain in force for 150 days. The Section 301 tariffs took effect at 12:01 am Eastern Time on Friday, exactly as that temporary measure expired.

The change allows the White House to preserve tariffs on goods representing 99.4 per cent of US imports while using a legal mechanism that has previously survived court challenges.

However, not every product imported from the affected countries will be subject to the new duties. Exemptions include oil and gas, fertiliser, critical minerals, aircraft and certain food products. Goods already covered by national security tariffs, including vehicles, steel, aluminium and copper, are also excluded.

The White House said exemptions had been granted where tariffs could limit access to essential raw materials, cause wider economic disruption or affect goods that the US can’t produce in sufficient quantities at reasonable prices. The administration also added hundreds of products to the final exclusion list following its public consultation.

Trading Partners Challenge Forced Labour Claims

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the tariffs were intended to address both human rights abuses and trade distortions.

“The United States has had a forced labor import ban for nearly a century, and rigorously enforces it. It’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same,” Greer said.

Several affected governments disputed the administration’s findings.

China said it opposed unilateral tariffs and warned that trade wars wouldn’t benefit either side. Australia and Brazil described the measures as unjustified and said they would seek their removal, while Norway said there was no basis for the new duties.

Other governments focused on how the final rates compared with existing arrangements. The European Commission said the outcome remained consistent with tariff commitments made under its agreement with Washington. Switzerland also disputed the forced labour claims but acknowledged that the US had kept the rate within an earlier 12.5 per cent ceiling.

The UK government said its trade agreement with the US remained in place. It also pointed to the removal of tariffs from British whisky and medical technology, although the British Chambers of Commerce warned that exporters could lose some of their previous advantage over competitors facing similar rates.

The new tariffs may not be the final duties imposed under the administration’s revised trade strategy. A separate Section 301 investigation is examining whether industrial overcapacity among 16 trading partners harms US commerce, with further tariffs expected if the agency reaches an actionable finding.