The Trump administration imposed Section 301 tariffs on 60 countries accused of failing to “impose and effectively enforce” bans on goods produced with forced labor, according to a new notice from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Today, Ambassador Greer is taking action, at President Trump’s direction, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 by imposing tariffs on 60 trading partners for their failure to adopt and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor.…
— United States Trade Representative (@USTradeRep) July 23, 2026
Goods from countries including Canada, Mexico, India, and the UK will face a 10% duty, while imports from the European Union and Taiwan will be taxed at least 10%. Products from Japan, South Korea, and Switzerland will face levies of at least 12.5%, with dozens of other countries subject to a flat 12.5% tariff.
Fuel, food, fertilizer, and products already covered by sector-specific tariffs, including automobiles, metals, and pharmaceuticals, will be exempt. Goods qualifying under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement will also be excluded.
The tariffs take effect Friday at 12:01 a.m. New York time, marking the biggest move yet to restore President Trump’s protectionist tariff wall since his earlier levies were struck down by the Supreme Court. After that setback, the president instituted a 10% global import tax, which expires Friday. The timing of the new levies ensures there will be no gap between the two.
“President Trump recognizes that decades of moral suasion have not eradicated forced labor from global supply chains. 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,” Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer wrote in a statement.
Greer said, “Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and a distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere. I am encouraged by the trading partners who have moved quickly to adopt forced labor import prohibitions, and look forward to ensuring their effective enforcement.”
Bloomberg noted that the new Section 301 levies are expected to lift the average effective U.S. tariff rate by just 0.1 percentage point to roughly 10.7%. That remains below the 13.5% rate in place before the Supreme Court’s February ruling.
Ernst & Young trade expert Blake Harden was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the Trump administration is not yet done with tariffs or with disrupting the status quo.
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty hanging out there. We still have the opportunity for a lot of tariffs this year,” Harden said. “Prior to this week there was sort of just a bit of a lull and maybe it felt like there was more certainty than there is. There’s this thing I keep telling folks: There’s a lot to come still as we get into this year.”
Meanwhile, the US Customs and Border Protection has issued refunds to importers after the Supreme Court invalidated Trump’s previous tariff regime.
