After a court defeat, the US revives tariffs and India is a target

Key points

• The Donald Trump administration has found a new way to tax the world's goods, and India is on the wrong side of it.
• On June 2, the US Trade Representative proposed extra tariffs of 10–12.5 per cent on 60 economies for failing to stop imports made with forced labour.
• It is the White House's first major tariff move since the Supreme Court struck down its earlier tariffs in February.
• This time, the legal ground looks firmer.
• The earlier "Liberation Day" tariffs relied on emergency economic powers that the Supreme Court rejected in February, ruling that the law did not allow presidents to impose tariffs.