The Trump administration launched another front in its global trade war Thursday, imposing tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent on imports from 60 countries, covering nearly all goods the United States buys from abroad.
The new duties take effect just after midnight Friday, replacing a previous set of global tariffs that were set to expire. The official justification, announced by the US Trade Representative, is that these 60 nations have inadequately enforced bans on goods produced by forced labor.
The real logic is broader. The 60 targeted countries account for roughly 99 percent of US imports. This is not a surgical strike against offending nations. It is a blanket tax on the world.
“President Trump is going ahead with new double-digit tariffs on dozens of US trading partners just as the clock runs out on his temporary global duties,” NPR reported from Washington.
The tariff rates vary by country. The USTR fact sheet lists “10 to 12.5 percent” depending on the trade partner, with the administration claiming the rates correspond to each country’s level of forced-labor enforcement compliance. In practice, the mechanism is opaque and the rates appear to have been set through internal negotiations rather than any objective standard.
Markets have been bracing for this. The S&P 500 dropped 1.8 percent in afternoon trading Thursday, and Asian markets are expected to open lower Friday. Manufacturing supply chains that spent the last four years adapting to Trump’s tariff regime now face yet another restructuring.
The countries hit hardest include China, the European Union’s largest economies, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Mexico, and Canada, every major US trading partner. The only significant exceptions are countries the administration has designated as tariff-free through separate bilateral deals.
The forced-labor rationale carries real-world consequences beyond trade. Countries that receive a low compliance rating may also face reputational damage in other markets, and the tariff structure gives the administration leverage to demand policy changes from trading partners on issues far beyond labor enforcement.
For American consumers, the effect is delayed but predictable. Tariffs are paid by importers, not foreign countries. Those costs get passed down the supply chain and eventually reach retail prices. Economists expect the new round to add roughly 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points to core inflation over the next six months, at a moment when the Federal Reserve is still trying to bring inflation down.
The White House is betting that voters will credit Trump for protecting American jobs rather than blame him for higher prices. That bet has paid off before. But each new round of tariffs makes the economy harder to manage, and the cumulative weight of trade barriers now in place is unlike anything seen since the Smoot-Hawley era.