Trump Replaces Expired Tariffs With Legally Sturdier 10-12.5% Levies
New duties covering 60 countries take effect Friday, built on Section 301 authority seen as more resistant to court challenges.
The Trump administration activated new import tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent on 60 trading partners at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Friday, replacing a temporary 10 percent global levy that expired the same day, the Wall Street Journal reported. The duties were announced by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer's office and cover countries accounting for roughly 99 percent of US trade, according to that office.
The rate a country faces depends on its domestic labor laws. Nations that have legislation addressing forced labor qualify for the lower 10 percent duty, while those without such statutes are assessed 12.5 percent. Governments can potentially earn the reduced rate by enacting qualifying laws, though none are positioned to reach zero under the current framework. Several categories — including steel, aluminum, automobiles, auto parts, and select food, agricultural, fertilizer, and energy imports — are excluded because they already carry separate national security tariffs.
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The defining feature of these tariffs is their legal foundation. Rather than leaning on emergency executive powers that the Supreme Court struck down in February — effectively gutting the bulk of Trump's earlier global tariff program — the new levies rest on Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Trade lawyers regard that statutory authority as far more resistant to judicial challenge, and it allows the administration to keep duties in place indefinitely and modify them without returning to Congress.
In practical terms, the near-term economic disruption may be modest: the new rates closely mirror the expiring 10 percent baseline, limiting immediate shocks to prices and trade flows. The larger implication is strategic. By anchoring future tariff actions to a legally durable mechanism, the White House gains a more stable platform for the additional trade measures officials have signaled in coming months — moves that analysts say could meaningfully raise costs for businesses and consumers if enacted at higher rates.
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