The United States is set to announce new tariffs targeting approximately 60 countries within days, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview with CNBC, marking a significant escalation in Washington’s trade policy agenda.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has opened investigations into certain trading practices, particularly those related to forced labour, with findings expected to be released this week.
The new levies, which could affect some of the United States’ most important trading partners, are designed to replace the temporary 10% tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump after the Supreme Court struck down the original surcharges last year.
“The United States has laws that prohibit the trade in goods produced with forced labour. Most other countries do not have such laws, and those that do don’t actually enforce them,” Greer told CNBC.
In late February, the US Supreme Court invalidated a significant portion of the tariffs imposed by the president, ruling that he had applied an unconstitutional reading of existing legislation to justify them.
The ruling did not affect sectoral tariffs, which target the automotive, steel, aluminium and copper industries.
Trump subsequently announced new tariffs grounded in a separate legal provision that authorises the imposition of such surcharges for a maximum period of 150 days.
In parallel, the USTR launched a series of investigations that, in principle, would allow for the permanent implementation of those tariffs — based on the same legislation underpinning the existing sectoral levies.
Earlier in June, at the conclusion of those investigations, Greer proposed tariffs of 12.5% on around 45 countries that, according to the USTR, do not enforce prohibitions on the importation of goods produced with forced labour.
For economies that do maintain such prohibitions but whose enforcement is deemed insufficient by Washington — including Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico and Pakistan — the Trump administration has proposed a reduced tariff rate of 10%.
The same reduced rate applies to the United Kingdom, whose import prohibition is considered only partial by US authorities.
The US government has announced additional tariffs on specific countries in recent days. On Thursday, Brazil was hit with a 25% tariff on a range of goods.
Washington has criticised Brasília for policies that it claims have particularly damaged American commerce by “reducing access to one of its key export markets”, Greer said at the time.
On Monday, Canada was subjected to an additional 50% surcharge, set to take effect in one month, “in response to discriminatory treatment of American products”.
“This is a response to the retaliatory measures” taken by Ottawa following the first tariffs imposed by Washington in 2025. “For a year we have asked Canada to withdraw them, to modify them, to adjust them,” Greer explained on Tuesday.
Source: ANGOP / Original article: https://www.angop.ao/noticias/mundo/estados-unidos-preparam-novas-tarifas-para-60-paises/
