Trade envoy Jamieson Greer stated on Tuesday that the United States will soon implement a number of new tariffs aimed at dozens of nations, with President Donald Trump’s temporary worldwide levy set to expire this week.
The Trump administration has prepared fresh tariffs targeting 60 trading partners over their alleged failures to act against forced labor, as officials push to rebuild the US leader’s trade agenda after legal setbacks.
“The US has laws to prohibit trading goods with forced labor. Other countries, most don’t have a law, those that do don’t really enforce it,” Greer told CNBC on Tuesday.
“We expect to see some action soon,” he added, although saying he could not specify a timeline.
While Trump imposed a 10-percent global duty this year after a swath of his tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court in February, this levy expires Friday.
Analysts expect that new planned tariffs over forced labor concerns — ranging between 10 percent and 12.5 percent — would replace the temporary duties.
Greer added Tuesday that the new action will cover the vast majority of US trade.
But these moves could reignite tensions with major US trading partners. The European Union, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Japan are all among targeted economies.
Already, the EU previously said that it considers tariffs imposed on these grounds to be “unjustified.”
Trump has also unleashed other duties and trade investigations as he presses US partners for further leverage:
