How Trump is relaunching a tariff war citing ‘forced labour’ concerns

Published 15 June 2026 · india

Trade analysts predict Trump’s latest push could accelerate the ‘reorientation’ of global trade away from the US. There was no grand Rose Garden announcement, no

Trade analysts predict Trump’s latest push could accelerate the ‘reorientation’ of global trade away from the US. There was no grand Rose Garden announcement, no aides holding placards with lists of countries and tariffs imposed on them. But four months after the United States Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency powers law to wage a trade war on the world, his administration has relaunched his tariff agenda using a new approach that analysts say might be harder for courts to strike down. The US Trade Representative (USTR) announced on June 2 that it was now pursuing Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to once again impose tariffs on so-called “60 economies”. The list includes the European Union, so in effect, more than 80 countries are affected. Using that authority, it has proposed tariffs of up to 12.5 percent on imports, arguing that those nations have failed to adequately prevent trade in goods produced with forced labour. Many of these countries are in the Global South. But several developed nations that are US allies – Britain, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Australia and New Zealand – are also among the targets of this new approach. This renewed tariffs push, say analysts, might push countries further away from the US – and further incentivise them to seek trade deals with each other instead of relying on Washington. “The US tariffs are … pushing countries to expand trade quicker,” Shantanu Singh and Vikram Naik, two India-based international trade lawyers in partnership, told Al Jazeera in a statement. “The EU-Mercosur and EU-India trade deals are examples of that …. Though they might not offer the same scale or prices, opening trade with newer markets can help reduce the burden from US tariffs,” they added. The EU-Mercosur deal that came into effect on May 1 between Europe and the South American bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay creates a trading zone of 700 million people. The EU-India trade agreement is even bigger: signed in January, and described by European leaders as the “mother of all deals”, it creates a free trade zone of two billion people.

The Trump administration’s previous and far broader tariff policy, enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), was struck down by the Supreme Court in February. The court said that Trump exceeded his authority by invoking the IEEPA to impose the tariffs. The day after, Trump imposed a global 10 percent temporary tariff, which is set to expire on July 24. Section 301: A new workaround Section 301 allows the US government to investigate foreign practices deemed “unjustifiable”, “unreasonable” or discriminatory towards American businesses and to impose remedies such as tariffs or import restrictions. “The failure of our most important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labour is unacceptable,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said. “It creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an unlevel playing field … We will no longer tolerate this disparity.” The administration opened Section 301 investigations into 60 economies earlier this year, in March. USTR concluded that, according to its investigations, each of the 60 economies failed to “effectively enforce a forced labour import prohibition”, which they further deemed was “unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts US commerce”. The USTR has proposed an additional 10 percent tariff on imports from Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, the European Union, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Taiwan and the United Kingdom, saying all of them already operate full or partial programmes. For the remaining 45 countries investigated, the USTR said it intends to impose a higher surcharge of 12.5 percent. That list covers Australia, China, India, New Zealand, Nigeria, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. The USTR said interested parties can submit “written comments” on the proposed tariff measures by July 6, before “holding hearings” on July 7 to discuss the proposals. ‘New pressure tool’ Trade experts say the Trump administration’s renewed reliance on Section 301 investigations is aimed at rebuilding its negotiating power. “After the US Supreme Court’s February 2026 ruling struck down the reciprocal tariffs, Washington lost much of its leverage in trade negotiations,” said Ajay Srivastava, founder of the India-based Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI).