Washington Entrenches New Tariffs in Trade Policy

Washington – 24 July 2026: President Donald Trump’s administration is once again placing global trade under conditions. As of 24 July, tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent are to apply to imports from 60 trading partners. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the measure affects trade flows accounting for 99 percent of U.S. imports. Washington cites inadequate enforcement of bans on products made with forced labor as its justification. Politically, however, the move is primarily an attempt to place a comprehensive tariff policy on a more legally durable footing.

The measure follows immediately after the expiration of a provisional global 10 percent surcharge. It had been introduced under a provision of the Trade Act of 1974 and was permitted to remain in force for only 150 days. Previously, the Supreme Court had rejected the administration’s broadest tariffs, which had been justified by an economic emergency. The White House and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are now using Section 301 of the same law. It allows measures against practices by other countries that, from the American perspective, unreasonably burden or discriminate against trade.

The accusation of forced labor is difficult to challenge on moral grounds and can be interpreted broadly in economic terms. According to figures from the International Labour Organization, around 27.6 million people worldwide were in forced labor in 2021. Washington says that only the United States has a consistently enforced import ban on goods produced in this manner. However, the new regulation does not affect only obvious high-risk sectors. In principle, it covers most imports from the economies concerned, thereby turning a human rights rationale into a general trade policy instrument.

The European Union is among the 60 affected partners. At the same time, the U.S. rule provides for product exemptions, including for certain goods from the EU, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and other countries. Exemptions are planned for raw materials whose supply in the United States would be at risk, as well as products whose higher prices could burden the entire economy. These exceptions reveal the proposal’s internal tension: the administration wants to exert pressure without damaging critical supply chains.

For Europe, the development is more than a question of individual tariff rates. The EU and the United States had only in 2025 concluded a political trade agreement setting a tariff ceiling of 15 percent for many European goods. A further layer of reviews, exemptions and possible countermeasures is now emerging. The World Trade Organization had already expressed doubts about the necessity, scope and consequences of the temporary U.S. surcharges. The new decision is likely to intensify that debate.

The broader conclusion is that trade is no longer treated in Washington as a policy area in its own right. It serves industrial policy, security strategy and human rights policy at the same time. This expands the United States’ room for maneuver. But it also increases uncertainty for companies whose supply chains depend on rules that last longer than a political news broadcast.