US imposes tariffs on dozens of trade partners, citing forced labour concerns

Image source, Getty Images By Michael Race , Francisco Velasquez , Reporting from New York , Jemma Crew and Osmond Chia Published 23 July 2026 Updated 1 hour ago The US has imposed new tariffs on 60 trading partners, accounting for the vast majority of its imports, over claims they failed to properly stop forced labour.

The duties, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, target key economic partners – including the UK, China, the European Union, Canada, Japan and India. They came into effect on Friday, as a temporary 10% tax on foreign goods introduced earlier this year expired.

The move is the latest escalation in the global trade war reignited by US President Donald Trump when he returned to office last year.

The US Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that many of the tariffs imposed globally under emergency powers were illegally enacted.

The president has since sought other ways to pursue his flagship trade policy.

Last month, the White House proposed 10%-12.5% duties on imports from dozens of countries over concerns they were not doing enough to tackle forced labour.

On Thursday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, acting under Trump's direction, said those duties would now take effect.

"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," his statement said.

Greer invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which governs US trade enforcement of practices that burden or restrict American commerce.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration invoked a different statute, Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, to impose 50% tariffs on products from Canada.

On Thursday, the Office of the US Trade Representative said the latest tariffs were being imposed on partners "for their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour".

The new duties apply to the top 60 US trade partners covering 99.4% of US imports, it added.

The office said Trump had made adoption of a ban on imports produced with forced labour a "critical" part of reciprocal trade agreements with other nations.

It said so far 10 trading partners had agreed to enact such a ban in these agreements, and other countries had implemented bans in response to its investigations in recent weeks.