News
13/03/26
US picks 60 trade partners for tariff action
Washington, 13 March (Argus) — President Donald Trump's administration has
selected 60 of the US' largest trading partners to target with new import taxes
that will replicate the tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court last month. The
US Trade Representative's office (USTR) late on Thursday announced an
investigation into 59 countries and the EU, alleging that these jurisdictions
have not been diligent in banning imports of products produced by forced labor
in third countries. "Despite the international consensus against forced labor,
governments have failed to impose and effectively enforce measures banning goods
produced with forced labor from entering their markets," USTR chief Jamieson
Greer said. USTR is citing its legal authority under Section 301 of the Trade
Expansion Act of 1974, which allows targeting a foreign trade partner for unfair
practices. USTR already has launched a separate investigation into 12 of those
60 foreign jurisdictions. Collectively, all major US trading partners would be
liable for high tariffs once the USTR completes these investigations in May. The
list includes Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the EU, Norway, Japan, South Korea,
Indonesia and Malaysia. All those jurisdictions have been subject to emergency
tariffs of 15pc and higher since last April. The US Supreme Court struck down
those tariffs on 20 February. The US administration on the same day, citing
separate authority under Section 122, imposed a 10pc tariff on all US imports.
But those tariffs will only be in effect until 24 July. USTR is aiming to have
the new Section 301 tariffs in place by that deadline. The Section 301 process
does not affect existing tariffs on steel, aluminum, cars and auto parts. Trump
and previous presidents routinely used Section 301 authority to address specific
trade complaints, so the legal authority has not been challenged in court
before. But a mass trade action simultaneously targeting dozens of countries in
an effort to reverse-engineer invalidated tariffs may invite legal challenges.
"It won't surprise anyone that once again Trump is refusing to accept the
reality of his loss and is desperately back at the drawing board trying to find
any pretext he can to reclaim power the Supreme Court rightfully said he doesn't
have," House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee ranking member Richard
Neal (D-Massachusetts) said on Thursday. On Friday, a coalition of dozens of
states, including Oregon, asked a federal court to suspend collection of the
Section 122 tariffs while a lawsuit against those temporary tariffs proceeds.
Those states point to lengthy delays in obtaining refunds to the tariffs the
Supreme Court struck down. "It is likely impossible for plaintiff states to be
made fully whole for the economic harm suffered each day that the unlawful
Section 122 tariffs are in place," the states wrote in their legal filing. By
Haik Gugarats and Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at
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