US unveils tariffs on nations including NZ as Trump rebuilds trade agenda
The United States said it would impose new tariffs on 60 trading partners including New Zealand, replacing an expiring global duty rolled out by President Donald Trump earlier this year.
The levies, which take effect today, range from 10% to 12.5% and impact major economies like China, India and the European Union.
New Zealand and Australia both face a 12.5% tariff.
The Trump administration has moved swiftly to rebuild the President’s tariff wall after the Supreme Court struck down a host of his duties in February - dealing a blow to his ability to unleash steep levies at will.
In unveiling the duties US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said: “The United States has had a forced labour import ban for nearly a century and rigorously enforces it; it’s well past time for our trading partners to do the same.”
After the legal setback, Trump tapped different authorities to reimpose a 10% tariff on imports. But the tariff only lasted 150 days, expiring today.
The volley of new duties, initially proposed in June, will now take its place.
The measures were proposed after a months-long investigation and are considered more resistant to legal challenges than earlier moves.
Economies that have implemented a forced labour prohibition are hit with the lower 10% rate. They include Canada, the EU and the United Kingdom.
Others including New Zealand were deemed to deserve harsher levies, receiving the higher 12.5% tariff, a US official told reporters. Trading partners like China and Japan are also covered in this group.
Goods already facing Trump’s sector-specific tariffs - like steel and aluminium - will not be impacted.
Goods entering under the US-Mexico-Canada free trade pact will also be exempt, a US official told reporters.
Washington is separately investigating 16 economies over excess industrial capacity, in probes that could lead to additional duties.
These could result in different rates among countries eventually, as Trump had done before his legal setback.
Trade lawyer Greta Peisch told AFP that the Trump administration’s move to impose a baseline tariff while sustaining the threat of further duties ahead maintained leverage over its trading partners.
She added that it also created an incentive for countries to comply with trade pacts that they earlier struck.
Former US trade official Ryan Majerus said the Trump administration had been hunting for options that would allow it to aggressively deploy tariffs.
He said that in the longer term, Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 - which Greer tapped to impose the latest duties - provided “more flexibility than people realise.”
He added that, once they were in place, officials could modify them based on new developments.
The latest salvo comes shortly after a separate 25% tariff took effect on various Brazilian goods, with Washington accusing the Latin American giant of unfair trade practices after a year-long investigation.
This week, Trump also ordered new 50% tariffs on many Canadian products, citing Ottawa’s “discriminatory treatment” against American alcohol, automobile and dairy products.
- AFP
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