Levies apply to 99% of U.S. trade, USTR says

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and President Donald Trump, shown here speaking last fall aboard Air Force One, are making a fresh move with tariffs on Thursday.

President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday followed through on a plan to maintain his elevated tariffs on scores of trading partners, as officials announced new import taxes based on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

The administration announced levies of 10% for countries that have bans on forced labor and 12.5% on those that have failed to adopt such prohibitions.

"If countries are on the right path, they have a certain level of tariff -- about 10% - and if they're not on the right path, it's a slightly higher tariff of 12.5%," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNN on Thursday afternoon.

Trump in February had turned to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose a 10% global tariff for 150 days, with that move coming shortly after the Supreme Court ruled against his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to levy his import taxes.

With the 150-day period ending on Friday, the Trump administration had been expected to seize on yet another authority, Section 301, to maintain his tariffs.

The new levies will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern on Friday. They will apply to the top 60 U.S. trade partners, covering 99% of all U.S. imports.

The new tariffs won't stack on top of existing duties on steel and aluminum, which were imposed under a different section of U.S. trade law. Other products, such as certain agricultural imports, are exempt.

Greer's office had concluded a Section 301 investigation last month and accused 60 trading partners of failing to prevent the importation of goods produced with forced labor. Greer and his colleagues recommended tariffs of 10% to 12.5% for those partners. Analysts haven't been convinced that the latest tariffs are a necessary move to combat the problem of forced labor, saying the concern over unpaid workers is just a pretext.

"President Trump is asking all trading partners to join the United States in eliminating forced labor from global supply chains," said a statement from Greer's office.

-Victor Reklaitis -Robert Schroeder

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July 23, 2026 17:50 ET (21:50 GMT)

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