Donald Trump’s new tariffs will include exemptions for goods traded under his 2020 deal with Canada and Mexico © AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
US hits 60 countries with new duties as Donald Trump rebuilds tariff wall
Administration pins measures on forced labour probe after Supreme Court struck down blanket levies
Aime Williams in Washington FT© 23-07-2026
The US has hit 60 countries with new duties of at least 10 per cent as Donald Trump rebuilds his tariff wall that was knocked down by the Supreme Court earlier this year.
The levies, which are based on the outcome of an investigation by the US trade representative’s office into forced labour, will go into effect on Friday when the current 10 per cent global duties expire.
Washington will impose levies on major trading partners, with the UK, Mexico, EU, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea facing rates ranging from 10 per cent to 12.5 per cent.
The duties highlight how Trump is using new tools to keep his signature trade policy in place after the top court ruled the levies imposed after his “liberation day” event in April 2025 were illegal.
After the court struck them down, Washington imposed a global 10 per cent tariff regime, but it was based on a law that only allowed them to be collected temporarily, and they are set to expire on July 24.
The US trade representative said in a notice on its website that the new measures are based on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the administration to avoid relying on the emergency powers.
It accused the 60 economies hit with the tariffs of failing to “impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour”.
“With his global tariffs expiring tonight, Trump is once again flipping through the statute books looking for any authority to keep them in place. Today’s forced labor justification is too convenient to be taken seriously,” said US representative Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the committee responsible for trade.
The administration’s move came after the president on Monday unveiled levies of 50 per cent on some Canadian goods and last week imposed a 25 per cent tariff on many Brazilian imports.
A senior US official said the forced labour tariffs would “restore fairness in the global market for American workers” and prompt US trading partners to “join the United States in eliminating forced labour from global supply chains”.
The duties will include exemptions for oil, gas and fertiliser, along with some other goods that the US does not produce, and offer carve-outs for goods that are already hit by separate national security tariffs.
They will also include exemptions for goods traded under Trump’s 2020 deal with Canada and Mexico, providing a reprieve to two of America’s largest trading partners.
The forced labour probe is part of an effort by the Trump administration to create other legal bases on which to impose levies similar to the president’s “liberation day” tariffs.
Following the court’s ruling, the Trump administration has imposed tariffs under other trade legislation, including the national security laws used to hit steel and aluminium, and an obscure law used to impose duties on Canada earlier this week.
