The United States Trade Representative’s office proposed a minimum 10 percent tariff on 54 economies following an investigation, the first step to rebuild the President’s tariff policy after the Supreme Court struck down its “Liberation Day” tariffs. The investigation found that 54 economies had failed to prohibit or enforce prohibitions on imports of goods produced with forced labor.
The proposal would impose a 10 percent tariff on five countries including Canada and Mexico and the European Union for failure to enforce prohibitions on those imports. Forty-eight other countries, including China, India, Japan, and Brazil, would face a 12.5 percent tariff for a failure to prohibit such imports.
The importation of goods made with forced labor “creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field,” Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer said in his office’s statement on the proposal.
This proposal falls under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which grants the Trade Representative’s office the power to investigate, enforce, and respond to the practices of foreign trade partners. Following the February 20 Supreme Court decision striking down the Administration’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Ambassador Greer proposed Section 301 as one of two avenues to reinstate much of the tariffs removed by the court.
