Trump imposes new global tariffs, drawing protests from trading partners

WASHINGTON, July 24: The United States on Friday imposed new tariffs of 10% and 12.5% on goods from 60 trading partners, including the EU and China, alleging those countries failed to curb imports made by forced labor, just as a temporary 10% global tariff expired.

The move is the White House's first step in efforts to rebuild President Donald Trump's near-global tariff wall after the US 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 US trade deficit.

New tariffs had been expected, but trade partners around the world joined in strongly disputing the justification for them. Some, however, noted they would make no difference to current levies or even marked a slight improvement.

Bond yields edged higher as the tariffs added to inflation risk, but reaction was generally limited in financial markets more focused on the Middle East conflict.

The new tariffs, announced in a Federal Register notice, cover 99.4% of US imports, but include numerous product exemptions, such as oil and gas, fertilizer and certain food items.

The US claims that trading partners had failed to clamp down on trade in goods made with forced labor passing through their supply chains, an accusation those countries deny.

"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," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.

"Today’s action will begin to correct what is both a human rights abuse and distortive trade practice to improve the welfare of workers everywhere."

The US imposed a 10% duty on goods of Argentina, Bangladesh, Britain, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago saying they had bans or plans to ban forced labor imports but were not effectively enforcing such prohibitions.

The European Union, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland were assigned rates that, combined with pre-existing most-favored-nation tariff rates, totaled 10% or 12.5%.

The other 38 countries were assigned a 12.5% rate. These include Vietnam, which issued a new decree this week that sets out more detailed rules banning imports of goods made with forced labor, and China - accused by the US of detaining Uyghur minorities in work camps, which Beijing denies.

Greer previously pledged that for countries with trade deals with Washington capping UStariff rates, the new forced labor duties would not push them above those caps - a point which the European Union noted in its response.�" REUTERS