Which Countries Are Targeted in Trump's Tariff Turnover?

Friday will see the expiry of temporary duties of 10 percent on global imports set by the Trump administration after the Supreme Court struck down a sleuth of country-specific tariffs in February. U.S. leadership has been busy drafting replacement tariff rules, two of which were already announced: 25 percent of a range of goods from Brazil starting on July 22 and 50 percent on a list of Canadian imports from August 19 onward.

While the new Canadian tariff invokes section 338 of the Trade Act of 1974, tariffs on Brazil are based on section 301, which stipulates that the U.S. can take retaliatory action if a foreign country breaks trade agreements or engages in "unjustified, unreasonable or discriminatory" practices that "burdens or restricts US commerce". Under this section, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has been investigating 59 countries and the European Union, all of which could soon be struck with new tariffs. This includes, in addition to the countries named above, many countries in Latin America, North Africa, the Arabian Gulf and the Asia-Pacific region.

Two investigations claim that countries' inability to stop forced labor practices and their excess production in manufacturing are hurting the United States' commercial interests. Previously, U.S. tariffs on imports from foreign countries had used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as justification, but the Supreme Court ruled that they were exceeding its scope to regulate commerce during national emergencies due to foreign threats.

The Office of the Trade Representative has suggested tariffs on 10-12.5 percent for countries found to be violating the United States' ban on the import of products made with forced labor. There has been no such announcement concerning excess manufacturing production.

U.S. tariffs ranging from 10-50 percent on the import of aluminum, steel, copper, automobiles, trucks and their parts, lumber, timber and semiconductors invoking section 232 of the Trade Act have continued to stay in place, with some modifications added via trade agreements made with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. A new 100-percent tariff on pharmaceuticals will go live on July 31, but includes exceptions and lower rates for countries with existing import agreements, those which entered into so-called onshoring or most-favored-nation agreements on threat of the tariff as well as a two-year delay for generic medications.