Trump uses bogus claims to continue to impose a national sales tax on Americans
The duties, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, were announced as part of Trump's effort to maneuver around repeated court rulings against his sweeping tariffs,
including by the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court. Jamieson Greer, the Trump
administration’s top trade official, pointed to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to
justify the new tariffs, introduced with the purported goal of penalizing
countries “for their failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on
the importation of goods produced with forced labor.”
Observers questioned the administration’s pretext.
“Magically, the US tariff probe on forced labor practices is done perfectly in
time to replace the generalized but expiring Section 122 tariffs,” noted Bloomberg’s
Josh Wingrove, referring to the legal authority Trump cited for earlier
tariffs.
Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) acknowledged that
“Section 301 is a law Congress passed,” but added, “What was passed in 1974 was
authority to respond to specific unfair trade practices after investigation.”
“What is being done with it now is a tariff on 99% of
American trade, set by Trump, with no expiration, no vote, and no ceiling,”
said Levin. “If a delegation that broad is lawful, then the tariff power in
Article I means very little. The Supreme Court struck
down the last version of this policy in February. The response was to avoid
Congress and find a different statute and rebuild substantially the same
tariffs, effective the same minute the old ones lapsed.”
The list of countries targeted by the Section 301 tariffs includes Canada, Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico, Russia, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.
Between the start of his second administration and January
2026, Trump’s tariffs cost American families $1,700 each on average as
importers passed burdens onto consumers in the form of higher prices. The
tariffs have also hammered small businesses, increased hardship for farmers, and failed to arrest the decline of American manufacturing jobs.
The Progressive Policy Institute said Thursday that the new tariffs would “likely cost Americans $100 billion a year” collectively—though the group’s trade director, Ed Gresser, said the administration’s order “looks vulnerable to challenge, and courts would have good reason to strike it down.”
“Its vague claims about forced labor abroad do not hold up,”
said Gresser. “Constitutionally, it is likely impermissible as an attempt to
use a law designed for problem-solving abroad to impose a general tariff
increase. And legally, Section 301 requires administrations to demonstrate
‘unreasonable acts, policies, or practices’ which impose a burden on US
commerce, which this executive order fails to do. While making emotive claims
about forced labor, it neither presents evidence that the listed countries are
buying goods made with the use of forced labor, nor demonstrates that if they
were, this would impose the statutorily required ‘burden on US commerce.’”
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the
House Budget Committee,
said in a statement that “these new tariffs are more of the same: a nationwide
sales tax that will make life even harder for families already struggling under
the costs of Trump’s reckless war in Iran.”
Countries subject to new “forced labor” tariffs include formerly
close allies and some very unlikely suspects:
1. Algeria
2. Angola
3. Argentina
4. Australia
5. The Bahamas
6. Bahrain
7. Bangladesh
8. Brazil
9. Cambodia
10. Canada
11. Chile
12. China, People’s Republic of
13. Colombia
14. Costa Rica
15. Dominican Republic
16. Ecuador
17. Egypt
18. El Salvador
19. European Union
20. Guatemala
21. Guyana
22. Honduras
23. Hong Kong, China
24. India
25. Indonesia
26. Iraq
27. Israel
28. Japan
29. Jordan
30. Kazakhstan
31. Kuwait
32. Libya
33. Malaysia
34. Mexico
35. Morocco
36. New Zealand
37. Nicaragua
38. Nigeria
39. Norway
40. Oman
41. Pakistan
42. Peru
43. Philippines
44. Qatar
45. Russia
46. Saudi Arabia
47. Singapore
48. South Africa
49. South Korea
50. Sri Lanka
51. Switzerland
52. Taiwan
53. Thailand
54. Trinidad and Tobago
55. Türkiye
56. United Arab Emirates
57. United Kingdom
58. Uruguay
59. Venezuela
60. Vietnam
