Trump's latest 'forced labour tariffs': Who's been hit, how badly?
The US has imposed new tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent on imports from 60 trading partners under Section 301, accusing them of failing to enforce bans on goods produced by forced labour. The move replaces stopgap levies that expired after the Supreme Court struck down Trump…
Intelligence analysis by Llama
Washington has rolled out double-digit tariffs against 60 economies, including more than a dozen Middle Eastern states, using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 after the Supreme Court dismantled its IEEPA tariffs in February. Countries with existing forced-labour import bans face 10 percent, while those without face 12.5 percent.
Imagine the US is the school principal, and 60 countries are kids in the hallway. The principal says some of them are letting bad toy factories operate, so the principal charges those countries extra money on everything they sell to the US. About a dozen Middle Eastern countries are on that list.
Analysis
A Court-Proof Tariff Weapon
After losing at the Supreme Court in February, the Trump administration spent months searching for a tariff authority that would hold up under judicial review. The answer, announced just as the 150-day Section 122 stopgap expired, is Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. According to the article, that statute permits the president to impose import taxes on countries engaged in "unjustifiable", "unreasonable", or "discriminatory" trade practices. It is the same legal tool Trump used in his first term against China, and the administration appears confident it can weather legal challenges this time around. John Diamond, director of the Center for Tax and Budget Policy at the Baker Institute, told Al Jazeera that while the forced-labour justification for hitting 60 countries at once is "a little bit ridiculous," he does not expect the courts to overrule Section 301 the way they overruled IEEPA.
The Middle East Joins a 60-Country List
The Federal Register notice names more than a dozen Middle Eastern economies alongside the European Union, China, India, the United Kingdom and others. Gulf oil exporters Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain all appear, as do North African producers Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Morocco, along with Israel, Jordan and Turkiye. According to the article, the rate each country receives depends on whether it already has laws banning the import of goods produced by forced labour: 10 percent for those that do, including India, Pakistan and Argentina, and 12.5 percent for those that do not, including China and the UK. Several Gulf states and Israel, however, were not on the list, and the article does not explain why some regional partners escaped inclusion entirely while others did not.
Forced Labour as the Next Trade Battleground
The human-rights framing, the article suggests, may be doing double duty. By tying tariffs to Section 301, the US Trade Representative's office has opened a durable channel for additional duties on the same countries in the future. The article notes that Greer has already launched a probe into whether 16 countries, accounting for 70 percent of US imports, have overproduced goods and undercut American industry — a separate Section 301 investigation that could deliver further tariffs once completed. For Middle Eastern exporters already absorbing a 10-to-12.5 percent hit, the prospect of stacked duties on top of existing sectoral measures is the more immediate concern. Diamond's skepticism that "over 60 major trading partners" really rely that heavily on forced labour hints at a wider debate over whether the new tariffs are, in practice, a human-rights measure or the next iteration of broad-based US protectionism.
Key points
- The US imposed new tariffs of 10 to 12.5 percent on imports from 60 countries under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, accusing them of failing to enforce bans on goods produced by forced labour.
- The duties replace a temporary 10 percent Section 122 tariff that expired at 12:01am on Friday in Washington, DC, after the Supreme Court struck down Trump's earlier IEEPA tariffs in February.
- More than a dozen Middle Eastern economies are on the list, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Israel, Jordan and Turkiye.
- Countries with existing forced-labour import laws, including India, Pakistan and Argentina, were hit with 10 percent tariffs, while those without such laws, including China and the United Kingdom, received 12.5 percent.
- The US Trade Representative's office has launched a separate Section 301 probe into overproduction in 16 countries accounting for 70 percent of US imports, with additional tariffs likely to follow.
Because Section 301 tariffs have historically survived court review, the new duties could pressure trading partners, including several Middle Eastern states, to strengthen domestic laws against goods produced by forced labour. The two-tier structure rewards countries that already have such laws, which Al Jazeera notes includes India, Pakistan and Argentina, and may encourage others in the Gulf and North Africa to legislate similar bans to qualify for the lower 10 percent rate.
Sweeping tariffs across 60 economies, including long-standing US partners in the Gulf and Europe, raise the risk of retaliatory duties on American exports and renewed inflationary pressure. The article quotes John Diamond of the Baker Institute calling the forced-labour rationale "ridiculous" for so many countries, suggesting the framing is more a tool of protectionist trade policy than a genuine human-rights intervention, a perception that could deepen global trade frictions.
